Sour ‘Romance’

I took the recommendation of The Times and went to see the play “Romance” last weekend. The Times wrote: “So funny it may make you cry” [“Mamet Adds Humor to His Arsenal in ‘Romance’,” by James C. Taylor, Oct. 11]. I did cry, but not for the humor!

I cried for the state of mind that produced a play that needed to repeat every racial epithet known in order to get a laugh. I cried that I was subjected by the playwright to the use of the F-word 20 times a minute in the mistaken belief that this is somehow funny.

LAWRENCE RAYMOND

Los Angeles