They were broadly positive, though they stopped short of naming it one of Ayckbourn's best. Michael Billington in The Guardian wrote ``Few dramatists in history have painted a more devastating picture of the emotional damage wrought by bullying men,'' and described Martin's misguided affection for _his_ girlfriends as ``an instant image of a grisly inheritance''. <sep>, Pronoun: his <sep>, A: Michael Billington <sep>, B: Martin