Hamlet is full of academic talk about religion. Tom Stoppard
gets away with obscure academic stuff all the time, ditto Kushner,
and Michael Frayn's not far behind them. Those of us who love
the work of writers like these love them BECAUSE they stretch
our brains, not in spite of it.
You may have to write a "Noises Off" or a farce like early
Stoppard's before anyone will take a chance on an uncut version
of one of your intellectual plays-- but please don't stop writing
them!
I do think that when it comes to ideas, obscure is better than
rare, b/c it spreads the mystification equally. What's resented
is when one explains things already understood, or seems to
be favoring one portion of the audience's education and slighting
the rest: it's got to "play" equally well to people who know
something about the subject and people who have never considered
the matter before...... (6/01/04)
by 
