 He identifies Joe Orton's 1969 farce "What the Butler Saw" as another influence.Although the play is farcical for most of its length, the ending is equivocal, and some have seen Wicksteed's solitary, spotlit dance as a dance of death.Billington emphasises the farcical side of the piece, whereas the critic Ronald Bergan views it as "rather more a wake than a celebration".