This play seems to be about the twisting of reality by our own selves and the good and bad that it can lead to. The play effectively deals with stereotypes, prejudices, and assumptions between the two main characters, Ashbe and John Polk, and their views of those around them.
At the beginning of the play, both characters have made quick judgments about each other based on their first impressions, which, I guess, in one catch-phrase, would be the absolute theme of the piece. It seems to be about the imagination mixing with our life experiences and how it can prove detrimental if we choose to let it make our decisions about people rather than simply getting to know them.
Also, at the beginning of the play, both characters have distorted, if not false, impressions of themselves and why they are doing what they do and how they do it. As the show progresses, the characters slowly get to know each other and they peel through each others' exteriors to reveal a little bit about who the other one really is. In a way it's a mini-course in love and infatuation, closely sticking to the theme of first-impressions and the stereotypes they cause us to make.
They both have images of one another. John Polk sees her as an obnoxious thief and she sees him as an uptight follower. In a way, both of them are right, but only on a very surface level. As the play gets near it's climax, when the two criticize each other mercilessly, they learn that they are actually somewhat alike and that perhaps the differences they do have from each other make them that much more attractive.
Ashbe, at the beginning, is 'on the run' because she just stole an ashtray from a local posh hotel. She admits this to him when she hides under John Polk's raincoat. Her first impression of him is that he is uptight, because after she admits the theft, he calls her a little thief and tells her that she's ruining his coat.
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