John Guare, in his playwriting, loves making things difficult. Verbally elaborate, dramatically digressive and freewheeling, his works often seem hell-bent on challenging their own structures. The simple matter of what happens next is rarely central to a Guare play: The key questions are more often whether its disparate elements will coalesce into a cohesive whole, and whether audiences can absorb the Tilt-a-Whirl trajectory of its action. A Guare script may delight or disappoint, or even do both at once; the one thing it will never do is hold still for the easy assimilation that commercial producers adore. That Guare's stature, despite his joyous knack for putting obstacles in his own path, actually includes a modicum of commercial success indicates how substantial his talent is. Even his bigger disappointments can't be... More >>>