New York Times, May 28, 1986, by Frank Rich
"Stage: A Mixed Array of Dramas in London"
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[...] Peter Shaffer also seems to be searching for new 
inroads to his usual themes in *Yonadab*, his first play 
since *Amadeus*. This time the envious, spiritually doubting 
narrator is the title character, a minor hanging-on in King 
David's court, 1000 B.C. An eyebrow-waggling Alan Bates is 
wildly miscast in the role, which requires him to address 
the audience like a foul-mouthed Tevye, and the play's 
difficulties don't end there. Mr. Shaffer, who has said that 
he is rewriting *Yonadab* for subsequent productions, 
constantly interrupts his revisionist retelling of an Old 
Testament anecdote, the rape of Tamar, to let the 
protagonist explain and inflate its metaphysical 
significance. Only at the violent end of each act does the 
drama emit the characteristic Shaffer heat. [...]



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