From Booklist
Canadian playwright Walker has been compared to Tom Stoppard for his brittle, witty dialogue and to Sam Shepard for his free use of pop imagery. This fascinating but uneven collection of plays shows, however, that Walker is sui generis. No other living playwright continually tests the limits of black comedy and farce as much as Walker--sometimes with superb results, as in his moving play about post-World War II moral ambivalence, Theatre of the Film Noir, and the oft-produced Zastrozzi: The Master of Discipline, a sweeping nineteenth-century romantic comedy loosely based on Shelley's novella of the same name. At other times, Walker is considerably less successful, as in his overly long, overwritten foray into family farce, Escape from Happiness. But even his weakest work is inspired by his admirable desire to push comedic forms in new directions. This collection also contains an introduction by Walker's friend and frequent director, Stephen Haff, exploring what he calls Walker's "brave comedy of big emotions." Jack Helbig
