Witty writer Mamet ponders power of language

"I'm having the time of my life up here," declared writer David Mamet. "But if I start boring anyone to death, would you just please stand up and tell me to go back to Russia?"

No one took Mamet up on his offer during his Seattle lecture debut Tuesday night at Benaroya Hall. Wielding the linguistic analysis skill of a Talmudic scholar and the droll timing of a deadpan comic, the celebrated playwright and screenwriter did not wear out his welcome.

A sold-out house enthusiastically greeted Mamet, the final speaker in this season's Seattle Arts & Lectures series. But anyone expecting a my-life-in-the-theater discourse from the Pulitzer Prize-winner, or a blunt brief on world affairs, was in for something very different.

In the spirit of his own distinctive oeuvre (i.e., the plays "Glengarry Glen Ross" and "American Buffalo," and films "The Verdict" and "Heist"), Mamet gave a fascinating, circuitous half-hour discourse on the power of language itself — to cajole, inspire awe, and to manipulate and deceive.

The maverick 55-year old writer titled his lecture "The Secret Names of Things." And after briefly reminiscing about his last visit here 25 years ago (to shoot his first movie, "House of Games," in Seattle poker clubs and dive bars), he launched into a discussion of how advertising and political catch-phrases can become "a tool for the manipulation of behavior."

His examples ranged from how Starbucks labels its smallest cup of coffee the "tall" size, to the media repetition of such "confected" (manufactured) governmental terms as "weapons of mass destruction," "coalition of the willing" and "homeland security."

Of the latter, Mamet observed, "None of us refer to our country as the homeland. That's not a naturally occurring phrase (in America), and it rings false.

"I find it incumbent on me to keep questioning these phrases," he declared. And though he made no overt political declarations, Mamet said pointedly that though there may be a good reason for the invasion of Iraq, "we haven't heard it yet."

The author speckled his challenging, at times stubbornly oblique symposium with quotes from his rabbi, and sources as diverse as dockworker-philosopher Eric Hoffer, psychiatrist Bruno Bettleheim and comic Lenny Bruce.

And later, Mamet offered direct, often slyly humorous responses to audience questions. Asked about his famed mastery of pungent, street-savvy dialogue, he replied, "One does not always have to be able to write good dialogue to write good plays. For instance, there are the plays we read in translation — and the plays by Eugene O'Neill."

But he also spoke of how his own O'Neill-esque experiences as a young man "working some pretty rough jobs, and meeting some pretty interesting people" had made him "adore the American language."

Despite the sharp satire of Hollywood in his play "Speed-the-Plow" and screenplay for "Wag the Dog," Mamet seemed sanguine about his movie career. (He's currently toiling on a new political thriller.) Warming to a query about films he wishes he'd written, his eclectic list included "The Godfather," "The Life and Times of Colonel Blimp" and "Yankee Doodle Dandy."

Mamet also got in a few peevish jabs at drama critics. (His latest play, "Boston Marriage," earned mixed reviews in New York.) And he seemed deeply offended by the recurring charge that his writings are misogynist. "I think that's a dreadful thing to suggest, " said Mamet, noting he is the father of three daughters. "I'd hate to be thought that, the way I'd hate to be thought ungracious."

At one point he mentioned, "I'm kind of retired from the theater." But in another breath, he relieved fans by mentioning a new play, his version of "Dr. Faustus" for San Francisco's Magic Theatre.

His career, Mamet mused, "just kind of happens. It's snuck up on me — like cellulite, y'know? I just have a responsibility to write as well as I can. Or face the consequences of self-loathing."

Arts & Lectures speakers, 2003-04

Seattle Arts & Lectures has announced four speakers for the 2003-04 season: Sandra Cisneros on Oct. 27, 2003; Billy Collins on Jan. 13; Ian McEwan on March 31; and Susan Sontag on April 27, 2004.