In the summer of 1994 my songwriting compatriot in the American Girls Eric Larson and I went backpacking in Europe. After he got homesick and went back to the US, I found myself traveling alone. I ended up spending some time in the UK. I went up to London and then caught a bus to Glasgow, where I spent the night on the way to Edinburgh. In Edinburgh I attended a hen night. On the way back to the European continent, I passed through Dublin Ireland. In the end, I caught a ferry back to Europe.
Sometime during that journey I bought a copy of the novel Success by Martin Amis. It was the story of two foster brothers, Gregory and Terrence. Gregory is a hipster socialite who works in a gallery, attends Orgy parties at his friend Torca’s house, and basically lives the high life. (An early draft of the play had Nicholas attending a sex party as well. The scene in Act 1 where Nicholas visits Timothy and Amanda almost took place at one such party. ) Terence, Gregory’s foster brother, is a complete inept and sexually frustrated slacker. Throughout the course of the novel, the two characters switch status. Gregory ends up in an asylum, and Terence becomes confident and finds a loving relationship.
I was attracted to the shape of that story. I thought Success would make a good movie, or play. I left it at that, but the germ of that story planted itself in my imagination, to be developed much later.