Since its first production in 1971, The House of Blue Leaves has been a controversial work. This controversy stems from that fact that Guare blends several, seemingly contradictory elements: black comedy and farce with drama.

For example, Henry Hewes in the Saturday Review of Literature maintained "John Guare's Off-Broadway hit The House of Blue Leaves ... outrageously yet responsibly depicts the doomed career of Artie Shaughnessy...." Later in the same review, Hewes contended, "Guare's comic facility is inextricable from an utter and moving emotional sincerity."

Hewes is representative of critics who perceive The House of Blue Leaves as a unique balance of these elements. Indeed, he concluded his review by asserting that "its delights are so great and its vision so essentially true that I find myself valuing it more highly than any new play this season."

Others critics appreciated the balance that Guare attempts to maintain but...