Ashes to Ashes

It was a fair way to state the problematical nature of criticism in the theater nowadays, to reduce Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf? to a two-character one-act, and call it beautiful.

ONE OF HAROLD PINTER'S RECENT PLAYS, THIS DRAMA GRAPHICALLY EXPLORES CONCERNS OF THE PLAYWRIGHT'S THAT HAVE BEEN FOREMOST IN HIS WRITING SINCE THE BEGINNING OF HIS CAREER ALONG WITH THOSE THAT HAVE BEEN FOREGROUNDED FOR THE PAST TWO DECADES. QUESTIONS ABOUT THE NATURE OF REALITY, HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS, AND INTERPERSONAL COMMUNICATIONS ARE BLENDED WITH HIS POLITICAL INTERESTS, MOST PARTICULARLY WITH HIS EXPLORATION OF THE HOLOCAUST. IN THIS GRIPPING STAGE PLAY, THE HEROINE TELLS A MAN ABOUT HER MEMORIES OF SEEING CHILDREN, HER OWN CHILD BEING AMONG THEM, BEING RIPPED FROM THEIR MOTHER'S ARMS BY MEN IN UNIFORM, ONE OF WHOM WAS HER LOVER. BUT, THE MAN CANNOT UNDERSTAND WHAT SHE IS SAYING, AND SHE IS TOO YOUNG TO HAVE BEEN INVOLVED IN THE HOLOCAUST. SO, IS SHE REMEMBERING ANOTHER, MORE RECENT HOLOCAUST, OR HAS THE HOLOCAUST BECOME PART OF A JUNGIAN, RACIAL MEMORY?ALTHOUGH NOT A MODERN CLASSIC LIKE THE HOMECOMING OR OLD TIMES, THIS IS ONE OF THE DRAMATIST'S MOST MOVING WORKS.