Pat Sloane wrote: > Interesting article. But Zolotow doesn't distinguish between a > psychoanalyst and a psychiatrist, and uses the words interchangeably. Zolotow might be confused about Reilly's profession but he quotes Guiness who has a better understanding of the role. Guiness **pretty much** said that the profession was intended to be ambiguous (although there is enough wiggle room in his comments to read that, while Eliot never indicated in the play nor spoke to Guiness about it, he (TSE) might have one of either psychologist, psychoanalyst or a psychiatrist in mind.) Zolotow: Is Dr. Reilly really intended to be a psychiatrist? The critics and most spectators take him for that. Guinness says that in his opinion this is an absolute misunderstanding of his role. In preparing it, he didn't talk to any professional psychiatrists in England, or to any person who'd been analyzed. He says neither the rod "psychiatry" nor "psychoanalysis" is ever explicitly mentioned anywhere in the script, including the stage directions. Reilly is called a doctor, he does have a consulting room, his secretary is described as a nurse, but Guinness takes him to be a "mental and spiritual adviser and guide, in a definitely religious sense." Later: "At no time," Guinness revealed, "was it suggested by anybody--Eliot or Martin Browne, the director--that Reilly is a medical psychiatrist. Regards, Rick Parker