SOURCE: Holden, Stephen. “Foundation: A Spaniard's Political Metaphor.” New York Times (29 December 1989): C6.

In the following review, Holden provides a mixed assessment of the 1989 New York City production of The Foundation.

In the opening scene of Antonio Buero-Vallejo's play The Foundation, Thomas (Thomas Nahrwold), an aspiring young novelist, paces before the picture window in the lounge of what appears to be a luxurious Alpine spa and exults in the ecstatic music of Rossini wafting through the room he occupies with five other men.

It is Thomas's fantasy that they are all guests of a cultural foundation at an intellectual conference where their every whim will be gratified. He remains obstinately oblivious to the setting's discordant features. One of the conferees is ill and bedridden on a cot in the corner. The other four seem strangely depressed and taciturn. All of them, including Thomas, wear badges that identify them...