SOURCE: Mitchell, Richard W. Review of Three Uses of the Knife, by David Mamet. Comparative Drama 34, no. 1 (spring 2000): 115-18.

In the following review, Mitchell criticizes many of the views presented in Three Uses of the Knife, but allows that the book may have some validity in its advice concerning commercial playwriting.

As one might expect from a book written by popular playwright and occasional agent provocateur of theater, David Mamet, Three Uses of the Knife: On the Nature and Purpose of Drama is, at various times, thought-provoking, irreverent, contentious, and conventional. Like many of Mamet's plays, this book offers some innovative approaches to its subject matter, although much of the volume embraces convention, especially when Mamet champions “true” dramatic structure, which includes a single hero pursuing a single goal through three clearly delineated acts. Although Mamet's promotion of traditional form may not hold up under the gaze of...