In this love letter to the theatre, Gurney uses the stage to explore, quite comically, our place in the world today. Set in the living room of a contemporary,
upper-class, Buffalo, New York couple, the author sharpens his wit on such topics as cola wars, politics, and even the very audiences who attend plays. This elegant room has a piano that plays Cole Porter songs when you just hit it (the characters break out in Porter melodies when the piano plays). The room contains obviously fake flowers, a fake fireplace, and a bar full of theater “liquor,” which is commented on by the actors. There is a fourth wall which “separates the actors from the audience” and this is a blank space (of course it is).
Peggy is the frustrated housewife whose children have left the roost and who feels boxed in by life. She has changed her conservative living
room to resemble a theatrical stage and leaves one wall blank. She wants to break through that fourth wall (a theatrical term meaning an actor has shown awareness for the audience through an imaginary wall that separates the two) because she believes there is something beyond that space. Husband Roger is concerned about his wife’s unconventional behavior so he calls in oversexed New York social climber and home decorator Julia and pompous college drama professor Floyd to help him make sense of all this.
During the next 90 minutes, every cliché in the world of theater is played, including booming voices, worsening gestures, overacting behavior,
and typical exit lines. A. R. Gurney’s dialogue is sparking, intellectual,
chatting and very sophisticated.
“...some damn clever writing...Constructed to illuminate the nature of the dramatic form while raising questions about the current state of the theatre in America...the evening is debonair, thought-provoking, and funny.” —The New Yorker. “...cleverly experimental...Mr. Gurney is a very sophisticated writer, and the variety of parallels he draws here, between
art and politics, between characters and audience members, between
the theater and the world, are dizzying and diverting...for those of us in distress over the political and cultural climate, [THE FOURTH WALL] is a bolstering, welcome and maybe even necessary expression of patriotism.” —New York Times. “Gurney’s intentions may be serious here, but his tongue is planted firmly in his cheek. Which is where it belongs
if the audience is to enjoy this play. Which it most assuredly does.” —The Journal News.

A.R. Gurney, playwright of The Cocktail Hour, is one of the most prolific and produced playwrights in America. His work focuses primarily on the issues and realities of middle-class American life and has been produced on international theatre stages for more than 40 years. After receiving a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1952, Gurney joined the United States Navy during the korean War, writing shows to entertain the military personnel. Following his discharge in 1955, he enrolled in the Yale School of Drama where he received his master's degree in playwriting. Later he joined the faculty at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge where he taught until 1996.

In 1958, Gurney wrote Love in Buffalo, the fist musical ever produced at Yale. His breakthrough success came in 1982 with The Dining Room. In addition to The Cocktail Hour, other award winning plays include The Perfect Party, Another Antigone, Love Letters, A Cheever Evening, Sylvia, and Ancestral Voices.

Gurney is the recipient of many awards, notable a Drama Desk Award in 1971, a Rockefeller Award in 1977 and two Lucille Lortel Awards in 1989 and 1994.