First, I'll Kill The Dog With Kindness,

Im Not Suggesting That The Play Is Without Fault; All Of My Plays Are Imperfect, Im Rather Happy To Say-it Leaves Me Something To Do.

I Don't Pay Much Attention To How The Plays Relate Thematically To Each Other. I Think That's Very Dangerous To Do, Because In The Theater One Is Self-conscious Enough Without Planning Ahead Or Wondering About The Thematic Relation From One Play To The Next. One Hopes That One Is Developing, And Writing Interestingly, And That's Where It Should End, I Think.

I Think It's For The Critics To Decide Whether Or Not Their Loathing Of The Play Is Based On Something Other Than The Play's Merits Or Demerits. They Must Search Their Own Souls, Or Whatever.

I Am Pleased And Reassured By The Fact That A Lot Of Younger Playwrights Seem To Pay Me Some Attention And Gain Some Nourishment From What I Do.

About Four Years Ago I Made A List, For My Own Amusement, Of The Playwrights, The Contemporary Playwrights, By Whom Critics Said I'd Been Influenced. I Listed Twenty-five. It Included Five Playwrights Whose Work I Didn't Know, So I Read These Five Playwrights And Indeed Now I Suppose I Can Say I Have Been Influenced By Them. The Problem Is That The People Who Write These Articles Find The Inevitable Similarities Of People Writing In The Same Generation, In The Same Century, And On The Same Planet, And They Put Them Together In A Group.