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The first serious contemporary dramatist to come from off-Broadway and successfully break through the financial barriers and strict proscriptions of commercial American theatre, Albee is also the first, if not the only one, of his generation to have tried out successfully such diverse dramatic forms as naturalism, surrealism, symbolism, farce, tragicomedy, and metaphysical allegory. In the decade since Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1962)Albee thus has earned a reputation as the most promising of the young American playwrights. His honors include a Pulitzer Prize in 1967for A Delicate Balance. To a small but expanding body of critical interpretation of Albee's work, Anne Paolucci has made this important contribution. Her keen and appreciative insights will aid the reader and theatregoer in obtaining a broader, more thorough understanding of Albee's plays and his ideas about the theatre.
Introduction -- Peter and Jerry: "Homelife" and The zoo story -- The zoo story -- The death of Bessie Smith -- The sandbox -- The American dream -- Who's afraid of Virginia Woolf? -- Tiny Alice -- A delicate balance -- Box and quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-tung -- All over -- Seascape -- Listening -- Counting the ways: a vaudville -- The lady from Dubuque -- The man who had three arms -- Finding the sun -- Marriage play -- Tall women -- Fragments -- The play about the baby -- The goat or, who is Sylvia? -- Occupant -- Knock! knock! who's there!? -- Bibliography -- Chronology of plays.
THE STORY: By turns funny, mysterious and disturbing, THE PLAY ABOUT THE BABY concerns a young couple who have just had a baby, and the strange turn of events that transpire when they are visited by an older man and woman.
The landmark Chelsea House Library of Literary Criticism, first published in the 1980s, is one of the most impressive collections of literary criticism ever produced. It is now available in digital format for the first time. This volume of the series provides excerpts and full-length critical essays on the playwright Edward Albee.
THE STORY: Jack comes home from a middling day at the office to quickly announce to his wife, Gillian, that he is leaving her. Suspecting for some time a midlife crisis, Gillian goads Jack about this announcement, forcing him to try it again--going
The influential American playwright discusses his work, the nature of art, the role of the unconscious, American culture, and the theater.
Edward Albee, perhaps best known for his acclaimed and infamous 1960s drama Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, is one of America's greatest living playwrights. Now in his seventies, he is still writing challenging, award-winning dramas. This collection of essays on Albee, which includes contributions from the leading commentators on Albee's work, brings fresh critical insights to bear by exploring the full scope of the playwright's career, from his 1959 breakthrough with The Zoo Story to his recent Broadway success, The Goat, or Who is Sylvia? (2002). The contributors include scholars of both theatre and English literature, and the essays thus consider the plays both as literary texts and as performed drama. The collection considers a number of Albee's lesser-known and neglected works, provides a comprehensive introduction and overview, and includes an exclusive, original interview with Mr Albee, on topics spanning his whole career.
This volume documents the life and works of the acclaimed playwright, Edward Albee. His first four plays were all produced Off Broadway from 1960-1961, creating buzz that he was an up-and-coming avant-garde playwright. But his most notable accomplishment came a year later with his first full-length play, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?. His plays were linked with the philosophies of the European absurdists, Beckett and Ionesco, and the American traditional social criticism of Arthur Miller, Tennessee Williams, and Eugene O'Neill. Intended to serve as a quick reference guide and an exhaustive resource, this collection includes play synopses and critical overviews, production histories and credits, and locator suggestions on unpublished archival material and lists of texts/anthologies that have published Albee's material. The two secondary bibliographies contained within are fully annotated chronologically and alphabetically with the year of publication, presenting a fuller sense of Albee's playwriting career.
In 1960, Edward Albee electrified the theater world with the American premiere of The Zoo Story, and followed it two years later with his extraordinary first Broadway play, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Proclaimed as the playwright of his generation, he went on to win three Pulitzer Prizes for his searing and innovative plays. Mel Gussow, author, critic, and cultural writer for The New York Times, has known Albee and followed his career since its inception, and in this fascinating biography he creates a compelling firsthand portrait of a complex genius. The book describes Albee's life as the adopted child of rich, unloving parents and covers the highs and lows of his career. A core myth of...
Edward Albee (1928-2016) was a central figure in modern American theatre, and his bold and often experimental theatrical style won him wide acclaim. This book explores the issues, public and private, that so influenced Albee's vision over five decades, from his first great success, The Zoo Story (1959), to his last play, Me, Myself, & I (2008). Matthew Roudan covers all of Albee's original works in this comprehensive, clearly structured, and up-to-date study of the playwright's life and career: in Part I, the volume explores Albee's background and the historical contexts of his work; Part II concentrates on twenty-four of his plays, including Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1962); and Part III investigates his critical reception. Surveying Albee's relationship with Broadway, and including interviews conducted with Albee himself, this book will be of great importance for theatregoers and students seeking an accessible yet incisive introduction to this extraordinary American playwright.