Theatre channeled contemporary atrocity into mythic collage rather than documentary

Evidence

Incorporating bits of the Bible, Moby Dick, and The Tempest, Commune drew more topically on the My Lai Massacre trial of Lieutenant William Calley (which began on November 17) and most heavily on the Rolling Stone’s Manson Family report. Commune would be revised throughout its six-month run at the Performing Garage but the Tate murders were the central strand, and the play ended with the arrival of Tate’s husband Roman Polanski at the murder house. — J. Hoberman, Everything Is Now, 1667