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Rating: 
Summary: Who is mad?
Review: Agnes open the play with a monologue in which she contemplates the possibility that one day, unexpectedly, she might turn mad. She says she contemplates it with astonishment, but she does not sound very astonished at all, she is more... fashinated by the idea. Her husband is listening, but not listening at all as if he could not hear Agnes, or her talking about the possibility of becoming mad was perfectly normal, or she has been mad a long time and he discounts her.
I won't spoil the play, but (for me) it is an interesting investigation in what it means to be mad. Indeed it is not clear who is mad, probably all of them, possibly none. The bounderies of madness are not clearly drawn and characters seem to shift in and out of it on a continuous basis. Rules of the polite society are called into question. Is it mad to break them or to upkeep them?The play is enjoyable to read, but not overly so, it is above everything else, enjoyable to think about.
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Summary: One of Albee's Best
Review: Albee, the playwright who invented one of the more complicated and vivid relationships ever in a play in ZOO STORY, has again demonstrated his intimate knowledge of the deeper motives behind human interaction. Every interaction between characters in this play -- from long monologues to short snippets of conversation -- has behind it some manner of conflict. Everybody in this play needs change, and can only reach it through the destruction of others; Tobias and Agnes who simply want to be left alone, but whose house has been invaded; Julia, the daughter who is betrayed by the fact that her parents gave away her room; Claire, who wants only to excercise her right to a good time; Edna and Harry who aren't quite sure what they need, and subsequently frustrate everyone else. This is a very heavy play, but written in a such a way that is has the guise of being a comedy. A must-read for anybody that loves drama.
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Summary: Bizarre and Wonderful
Review: Edward Albee's "A Delicate Balance" is certainly a strange and fascinating play. Like most of Albee's plays, it only has a limited number of characters (six), much booze, crumbling marriages and long nights filled with hurtful remarks. A complicated and compelling story of an aging couple, the wife's brash sister, the couple's dissatisfied daughter, and two friends who drop in unexpectedly one night. Worth a look.
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Summary: READ IT READ IT READ IT READ IT READ IT
Review: I am writing ANOTHER review because I CANNOT EXPRESS to you how wonderful this play is. I just read it for the second time. It is one of the three best plays I have every read in my life, and believe me, I have read all the plays worth reading. This is almost as good as "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" Once again, I love love love love love this play and all the characters. There is a movie. Don't see it. The play is better. Read the play. There are many great moments: Tobias' "cat speech," Tobias' memorable four-page closing speech, all of Act Two Scene Two, all of Act Three, Claire's disturbing interpretation of what it's like to be an alcoholic...they go on and on. This is my theory of what the play is about essentially: this is the story of a family who does nothing all day but sit and drink and b*tch about how terrible their lives are. They have lots of money. They have good friends and a good family. But they have let their lives go to waste. They've let life pass them by. Now they are old and sit back and realize how much they've missed. But not before much turmoil and anger are let out. There are a husband and wife in the play who sleep in separate beds, until one night, for lack of room, they are forced to sleep together and they realize: THEY LIKE IT. But they have wasted years and years of sleeping in separate beds. Am I rambling like a lunatic? Sorry. Just read it please or else I have typed all of this for no reason at all.
Rating:
Summary: Human Wishes
Review: This is so much like Beckett's Human Wishes (throughout, especially II, ii) that either Albee read it in manuscript somehow, or else he felt the necessity of inventing it. The change from Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf? is from a precision of language in an easy, American manner to one that is self-conscious and, well, "thought-tormented," and lasting. The general sense is of a trilogy, Woolf-Balance-Seascape, or rather Pictures at an Exhibition: Town-Country-Seaside.
Rating:
Summary: Human Wishes
Review: This is so much like Beckett's Human Wishes (throughout, especially II, ii) that either Albee read it in manuscript somehow, or else he felt the necessity of inventing it. The change from Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf? is from a precision of language in an easy, American manner to one that is self-conscious and, well, "thought-tormented," and lasting. The general sense is of a trilogy, Woolf-Balance-Seascape, or rather Pictures at an Exhibition: Town-Country-Seaside.
Rating:
Summary: Nice Play!
Review: To date, Edward Albee has won three Pulitzer prizes, has written one of the most famous plays ever--WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF? (surprisingly not among the three)--and also has written the most famous one-act ever, THE ZOO STORY. A DELICATE BALANCE is one of the Pulitzer winners; anyone who cares about theatre will love this. In performance an electrifying evening, it is also a darn good read--again and again. A tragedy at times hilarious, the stylized piece is an examination of friendship contrasted with family, in which the playwright creates six delicous characters--roles actors especially love and often perform brilliantly. Katherine Hepburn's filmed version comes to mind--a near perfect expression of the matriarch Agnes, who has several problems: her alcoholic sister is drinking in the living room, her daughter is coming home after a failed 4th marriage, and her friends Edna and Harry have decided to move in because they are "afraid" of something. Agnes's husband Tobias is polite, detached, and reasonable. Against bristling tension, the author uses drunken Claire as comic counterpoint to brilliant effect, giving her an accordion (of all things) as prop with which to accent and poke fun. (There's a wonderful sight gag near the end where this character, who isn't supposed to have one drink, is discovered holding two.) We also smile when mousy Edna tries to re-decorate Agnes's home and speaks to the divorcing Julia as if she were her own daughter. (How easily shyness moves to assertiveness, then imperceptibly to cruelty.) So we laugh to keep from crying--but laugh we do! And although Agnes is unforgettable, nevertheless it is Tobias who gets the climactic "aria," an attempt to put his house in order. The dramatist calls our bluff on what we mean by "friends," fusing big ideas in three elegant acts, crystallizing mysterious beauty from carefully chosen words. The result is a theatrical touchstone, one of Edward Albee's many masterpieces, a magnificent gem of a play.
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