Edward Albee Libri

Una coppia di mezz'età - George, professore di storia, e Martha, sua moglie e al tempo stesso figlia del preside dell'università - riceve un'altra coppia, più giovane: Nick, anche lui professore, ma di biologia, e la moglie Honey. L'azione si svolge nel salotto di George e Martha, in una sola notte, un vero e proprio jeu de massacre che travolge via via i personaggi. La situazione è quella classica: unità di tempo e di luogo, drammatizzazione dei rapporti,, coinvolgimento del passato di ognuno in un'azione tragica. Come in un rituale, questa notte diviene momento di oscena derisione, di scherzi sadici, di giochi crudeli, di scoperti tradimenti, ma anche, forse inaspettatamente, di liberazione e di verità. Il salotto dei Washington - questo il cognome non casuale di George e Martha - è così il centro d'una casa stregata, nella quale una specie di maleficio tiene soggiogati i protagonisti. Grazie alla "normalità" dei personaggi, scelti in un ambito ben definito ma non per questo meno emblematici, l'attenzione si concentra sulla normalità dell'angoscia, dell'odio, della trasgressione, della violenza. Che non è solo degli attori, ma propone gli stessi vizi e gli stessi comportamenti degli spettatori.

These range from the four brilliant one-act plays with which he exploded on the New York theater scene The Zoo Story, The Death of Bessie Smith, The Sandbox , and The American Dream to his early masterpiece, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf Also included are two adaptations from notable American novels The Ballad of the Sad Café and Malcolm and Albee's mysteriously fascinating Tiny Alice . This book represents one of the most exciting and bold periods in the career of one of America's most popular and imaginative playwrights.

Edward Albee: The American DreamJack Richardson: Gallows HumourMurray Schisgal: The TypistsArthur Miller: Incident at Vichy

Pulitzer Prize-winning author Edward Albee is one of our most important American playwrights. And nowhere is his dramatic genius more apparent than in two of his probing early works, The American Dream and The Zoo Story.The New Yorker hailed The American Dream as "unique ... brilliant ... a comic nightmare, fantasy of the highest order." The story of one of America's most dysfunctoinal families, it is a ferocious, uproarious attack on the substitution of artificial values for real values-a startling tale of murder and morality that rocks middle-class ethics to its complacent foundations.The Zoo Story is a harrowing depiction of a young man alienated from the human race-a searing story of loneliness and the desperate need for recognition that builds to a violent, shattering climax. Together, these plays show men and women at their most hilarious, heartbreaking, and above all, human-and demonstrate why Edward Albee continues to be one of our greatest living dramatists.

A collection of plays, often classified as absurd drama, which aim to portray a world in which humanity, with its despair, fear and loneliness, is alone in a hostile and meaningless world.

The intense dynamics between George and Martha unfold during a seemingly casual visit from a young couple, revealing deep-seated resentments and emotional turmoil. As the night progresses, their sharp exchanges expose not only their own secrets but also those of their guests, transforming a social gathering into a battleground of psychological manipulation. This exploration of marriage, truth, and illusion is regarded as a masterful and provocative theatrical experience that captivates with its raw emotional depth.

"Albee's perversely funny sendup of a standard mid-life crisis drama ... dares to suggest that even the most flawed and confused human beings deserve compassionate understanding, and the failure to proffer it is a species of bestiality far more abhorrent than the sexual kind." Variety On his 50th birthday, Martin, a world-famous architect prepares for a recorded interview by an old friend in the TV business; but in the course of the conversation a secret emerges that threatens to turn celebration to tragedy. Edward Albee's black comedy offers a fascinating look at the limits liberal society can be pushed to, and asks the audience to question their beliefs, to examine their own bigoted views and reconsider their judgement of matters that may or may not be considered socially taboo. Winner of the 2002 Tony Award for Best Play, The Goat, or Who is Sylvia? is a hugely enjoyable parable that plumbs the deepest questions of social constraints on the individual expression of love. This Modern Classics edition features a new introduction by Toby Zinman.

Beneath the complacent surface of American life, Albee seeks out the hidden sources of our violence. Publisher

also includes "Fam and Yam: An Imaginary Interview".