How Good is David Mamet, Anyway? is the best of John Heilpern’s theatre writings. The players are many: Vanessa Redgrave and Ralph Fiennes, Helen Mirren and George C. Wolfe, Fiona Shaw and Savion Glover, Karen Finley and David Mamet, and dozens of others. There’s also an important essay on the differences between the British and American theatre scenes, profiles of such legends as Noel Coward, Alec Guinness, and Michael Bennett, engaging pieces on such figures as Peter Brook and Robert Brustein, review essays on dozens of great, good, and awful plays, as well as contrary opinions on some of our most widely admired playwrights. There are comic turns too: ‘The Year of the Penis’ and ‘The Art of Falling Asleep at the Theatre.’ Serious or witty, John Heilpern’s criticism persuades us that theatre matters, after all. For anyone who loves the stage and its timeless mystery and fun, How Good is David Mamet, Anyway? is a chocolate box of a book.