In the following essay, Gianakaris explores Travesties within a word-game context, citing its "verbal acrobatics rather than kinetic action."

The strong affiliations between games and the theatre are obvious Even observers outside strictly artistic fields, like Johan Huizinga, have explored the instinct of mankind for "play." Today's pragmatic playwright views drama as an ideal vehicle for exposing games we play, while plays also can express the terror-filled, ridiculous lives we lead in our current existential setting. In an existential mode, Beckett's Waiting for Godot and Endgame cleared new paths; in turn they have been followed by the convoluted games of Genet, the absurd charades of lonesco, and the opaque conundrums of Pinter.

Quite possibly the most ingenious game-playing dramatist of our time, however, is Tom Stoppard His Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead (1967) first revealed not only how effectively a drama could be constructed around a game core...