Though essentially naturalistic, Mr. Inge's plays generate a mood of intense Freudian pressures that gives them overtones of poetry. His favorite theme is sex, his favorite thesis that it causes problems. His first Broadway hit, Come Back, Little Sheba, produced in 1950, explored the consequences of what used to be called a "shotgun wedding." (p. 97)

As is usually true of Mr. Inge's plays, the secondary characters in this one are flat and unconvincing, but, because of the honesty with which he has drawn the two principals and the poignancy he has achieved through their relationship, Come Back, Little Sheba represents not only his first-produced but also his best work.

Picnic, a more celebrated play, concerns a group of unmarried women of varying ages whose stale existence in a sleepy, midwestern town is temporarily enlivened by the appearance of a handsome vagabond…. The play … contains some of Mr. Inge's best...