[There] are occasions when I have no idea what to say about Sam Shepard….

Shepard is very much the avant garde man of the moment….

The Unseen Hand—part science fiction, part caricature western, part allegory—is Shepard very much into his own (mixed) bag, a sort of 'The Apocalypse Will Get You If You Don't Watch Out'….

Shepard [takes] potshots at many of the favourite American myths and realities. (Azusa, incidentally, stands for "everything from A to Z in the USA'). At times he resorts to clichés and banalities nearly on a par with those he indicts—'They have a revolution now and everything stays just like it was'; 'Why should you feel responsible for some species of hybrid from another galaxy?'—as Willie reminds the cowboy trio that freedom and revolution are inextricably bound up'. But he has the ability to create moments of...