Sam Shepard is a voice from the "underground," a poet's voice. His plays are mythic. They speak of the contemporary world and subliminally convey a social "message." They possess no specific ideology, they proclaim no prophesy except the ultimate doom of the present state of civilization. They express a yearning for restoration through the ancient virtues of kindness and human brotherhood, unity of flesh and spirit. Because he employs no philosophic identification tags, what he tells us must of necessity remain somewhat vague or ambiguous.

The Tooth of Crime … is a characteristic Shepard play and possibly his best….

The sum is often a sort of surrealist automatic writing, occasionally obscure, packed with low-life neologisms, invented turns of phrase, and sheer sonorous exhilaration. To understand it all prosaically a glossary would have to be supplied. But even as it stands, with much which goes past earshot and quick comprehension...