SOURCE: "Why the Lady Is a Tramp," in The New Yorker, Vol. XLVI, No. 9, 18 April 1970, pp. 82, 87-8.

Oliver began her career as an actress and television writer and producer. She joined the New Yorker in 1948, becoming its off-Broadway theater critic in 1961. Here, she regards Beatrice as the central figure in The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds.

The title The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds is a false clue to a touching and often funny play that, whatever its faults, is not nonsensical or verbose or pretentious or way-out flashy. Actually, it is a rather old-fashioned domestic drama (old-fashioned is no insult from me) in that it is about people—and interesting ones at that—whose behavior, while outlandish at times, is made as comprehensible as anybody's behavior ever can be made. The play, which was written by Paul Zindel and opened last week at...