This inspired him to write his first stage play, entitled Drawing-Room Tragedy, which Farrar and some friends performed at school in 1975 (shortly after Horne's death).
[4] In 1997 the novella was adapted by Farrar and Howard Franklin into a Warner Bros. film directed by Jon Amiel entitled The Man Who Knew Too Little,[5] in which an American tourist in London is inadvertently dragged into an attempt to reignite the Cold War.
[7] Stephen Holden of The New York Times wrote that the film kept its plot lines "in the air" well and praised its exploration of sexuality, but claimed that it "lost its nerve" towards the end, "mechanically" matchmaking the characters at the climax.
The story involves a sexual encounter (heterosexual in the film, homosexual in the play) in which one partner attempts to convince the other to eat a donut during sex.
Relax centred upon a "repressed" bed and breakfast proprietor who seduces a guest before claiming a disturbed twin brother was to blame.
[15] Matt Boothman, writing for The British Theatre Guide, alleged that the play lacked the "sensitivity" necessary to address themes of sexual predation and mental illness.
[16] Afterwards, Farrar redirected his efforts toward his musical career, working on a mini-LP with Dominik Strutzenberger in late 2010 before moving to Germany and debuting a new artistic persona, Merlin Dietrich.