Hochhuth's The Representative … was an innovatory piece of dramatic writing, both in its directness and specific political references. (p. 22)

[There] is no mistaking the influence of Hochhuth's first drama on the 'documentary theatre', both in relation to the employment of material drawn from the recent past and also the concern with topical issues….

[But the term 'documentary theatre'] hardly applies to Hochhuth's dramas, a fact which he himself stresses: he regards himself as a writer who accords 'the imagination its rights', even in the historical drama, and this means admitting 'things which the "pure" documentary play would exclude, namely, the invention of characters, transposing historical events from one place to another', and the like. In Hochhuth's estimation, the judicious selective invention of individual characters does not do violence to historical truth. (p. 23)

Similar difficulties and contradictions come to light if one tries to consider Hochhuth's work in the...