SOURCE: "'Gamma Rays on Marigolds'," in The New York Times, 8 April 1970, p. 32.

An English-born American drama and dance critic whose commentary has appeared regularly in New York Times and New York Post, Barnes has been called "the first, second and third most powerful critic in New York " In the following review, he encourages theater-goers to attend the 1970 off-Broadway production of The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds. Addressing the analogy between the marigolds and the depicted family, Barnes observes: "We are all the product of our environment, all the product of our particular 'gamma rays, ' but some survive and some are destroyed "

Off Broadway is at last warming up again. At the weekend we had the engaging Dear Janet Rosenberg, Dear Mr. Kooning, and now I can also most warmly recommend a new domestic drama that arrived last night at the MercerO'Casey Theater. It is a...