SOURCE: "More Trick than Tragedy," in Saturday Review, Vol. 9, No. 10, September-October 1983, pp. 47-8.

In the negative review below, Kauffmann contends that 'night, Mother is "a device, a stunt, and not an authentic drama; and it fails a being even the drama it claims to be."

If the hoopla about Marsha Norman's new play were credible, the current state of American drama would be better than it is. 'night, Mother has lately been garlanded with a Pulitzer after lusty cheering by many critics. Because the play has only two characters, is in one long act, and ends with a death, some commentators have called it classical and have invoked Aristotle. I envy their rapture; the play itself keeps me from sharing it. 'night, Mother is certainly better written and constructed than Norman's last New York production, Getting Out, but like that earlier play, the new one is fundamentally a...