SOURCE: "Dramas in Two Worlds," in The New Leader, Vol. LXVI, No. 24, 26 December 1983, pp. 16-17.

In this review of A Private View, Sauvage praises "Interview" and "Protest" but severely censures "Private View," stating: "The play is bad, and made worse by [director Lee Grant's misdirection and [actress Concetta] Tornei's physical miscasting" as Vera.]

Three one-acters written between 1975-78 by the dissident Czech playwright Vaclav Havel have had their initial New York production at Joseph Papp's Public Theater under the title of A Private View. The plays, which seem to be excellently translated by Vera Blackwell, premiered separately in London. Naturally, they cannot be seen in the author's own "socialist" country.

The first and last of the trio, "Interview" and "Protest," are short tales of extraordinary dramatic power, exemplary in the sense Cervantes gave to the word. Rather unexpectedly, Havel concentrates—with bitter, yet only slightly sarcastic understanding—not...