Guare

It brings to mind another New York art movie, “Six Degrees of Separation,” which had the elegance of John Guare’s play to bind its elements more firmly.

By then, Mr. Guare had been friends with Mrs. Elliott for about a decade.

“She called me and said, ‘We’ve just arrived in London, and do we have a story for you,’” Mr. Guare said in a phone interview.

“The storytelling started at dusk,” Mr. Guare recalled, “and we were listening to their voices in the dark.”

The yarn didn’t compel Mr. Guare to start writing “Six Degrees” immediately; it was six years before he returned to the story.