At the outset of his long, ever-evolving career as a dramatist, Edward Albee was an American heir to the intellectual energies of the European Theater of the Absurd. In Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, first staged in 1962, Albee moved his ferocity out of the absurd into a more realistic setting, a faculty home in which an embittered husband and wife unleash their demons with a venomous urgency that spotlights the disturbing characteristics of the author’s vision of family pathology. It’s like Albee has staged The Bacchae in our living room: We see the violence that simmers beneath the veneer of our lives erupt among familiar furnishings.
I'll read or watch anything by Albee and this play may be always be the pinnacle of his achievements. Belongs on the list with Tennessee Williams, Eugene O'Neill, Beckett, etc.
Every so often you should sit yourself down with a few stiff drinks and read this play. It's immersive and irresistible. I almost guarantee you'll be on your feet playing all four roles. It's not often that a play reads well or that reading a play is a satisfying experience (I mean they aren't meant to be read are they?) That said tie one on and turn an otherwise night of self-isolation self-awareness self-bla bla bla into an evening at the theatah with yourself as the stars... or stars. It's your night.
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