cover image An Unnatural Pursuit & Other Pieces: A Playwright's Journal

An Unnatural Pursuit & Other Pieces: A Playwright's Journal

Simon Gray. St. Martin's Press, $15.95 (244pp) ISBN 978-0-312-83371-8

From November 1983, when he finished the first draft of a new play, to the following August, when The Common Pursuit had been performed in London's equivalent of Off Broadway, British playwright Gray (Butley; Otherwise Engaged kept a diary in which he recorded the experience of reshaping and rewriting the text, selecting a director (Harold Pinter, who contributes a foreword here), producer, investors, cast and theater, going through rehearsals and the first night, and trying unsuccessfully to get the play transferred to the West End. While giving a behind-the-scenes account of the complexities of playwriting, Gray mercilessly reveals his misgivings and self-doubts and the strengths and weaknesses of his associates. He also includes articles on flops, writing for TV, his recollections of Cambridge and of literary critic F. R. Leavis, and his interest in cricket. Photos. (March 4)