Photo Courtesy of: http://nyti.ms/X41AvV "Any play that can be described in one sentence should be one sentence long". If nothing else, Edward Albee wrote complicated plays. His works are seemingly simple, production wise, but they are excruciating to pick apart. Whose Afraid of Virginia Woolf (1962) is absolutely Albee's most famous play. Despite controversial subject matter, it won the Pulitzer that year as well as a Tony for Best Play. The play moved to Hollywood and became viral amongst movie-goers. Albee went on to write a number of notable works but his career was slow to lift off. The Zoo Story (1958), his first play, was "politely refused" by New York producers. It's a one act that, to me, epitomizes the immersion of Theatre of the Absurd into American drama. It was only a matter of time before Americans came to appreciate Albee's avant garde aesthetic. Eventually a composer friend of his showed the work to a colleague in Berlin that Albee was able to get the show produced. Since it's initial production it has been spread and admired by dramatists worldwide. Other notable titles of Albee's include The Goat (2002), A Delicate Balance (1966), The Sandbox (1959) and adaptations including Breakfast at Tiffany's (1966) and Lolita (1981). I'll end this article with a quote that I found in the preface of a very old copy of The Zoo Story that I've acquired. To any playwright who fears the reception of their work, just know that you're in the same shoes as Edward Albee "...opening nights do not really exist. They happen, but they take place as if in a dream: One concentrates, but barely; one tries to follow the play, but one can make no sense of it. And, if one is called to the stage afterwards to take a bow, one wonders why, for one can make no connection between the work just presented and oneself. Naturally, this feeling was complicated in the case of The Zoo Story, as the play was being presented in German, a language of which I knew not a word, and in Berlin, too, an awesome city. But, it has held true since. The high points of a person's life can be appreciated so often only in retrospect." http://broadwayworld.com/article/Legendary-Playwright-Edward-Albee-to-Appear-on-CBS-SUNDAY-MORNING-Today-20130126#
http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/2013/jan/28/edward-albee-broadway-is-junk http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-3445_162-57566050/q-a-playwright-edward-albee/
1 Comment
|
Categories
All
|