The Play About the Baby - Acting Edition [Paperback]

Edward Albee (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0822218143 | ISBN-13: 978-0822218142 | Publication Date: January 1, 2001

The first British publication of a brilliant new Albee play If you have no wounds, how can you know if you're alive?In THE PLAY ABOUT THE BABY, a young couple who are madly in love with each other, have a child - the perfect family - that is, until an older couple steal the baby. Through a series of mind games and manipulations, they call into question both couples' sense of reality and fiction, joy and sorrow in this devastating black comedy which invites parallels with Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf. "You're unlikely to find a more intriguingly structured, provocative or entertaining new play" - Curtain Up "The Play about the Baby rockets into that special corner of theatre heaven where words shoot off like fireworks into dazzling patterns and hues" - New York Times

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"An exhilarating, wicked, devastating piece of emotional terrorism about the inevitability of agony and the seductive wisdoms of the absurd." -- Linda Winer, Newsday

"Fascinating and bracing ... If the play is about a baby ... it is also about life itself and how one faces the tidal wave of troubles, the arbitrary and irrational injuries that come with time; it is about the theatre and theatricality; about language; about a writer and his audience.... A cold starry night of a play-even as you shiver, you feel grateful for the brilliant light that shines down from it, and which, maybe, will help you see where you're going." -- Nancy Franklin, The New Yorker

"funny, harrowing dramatic fable ... as explicit and concise a statement of what Mr. Albee believes as he is ever likely to deliver." -- Ben Brantley, The New York Times --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

About the Author

Edward Albee was born on March 12, 1928. His plays include The Zoo Story(1958), The American Dream (1960), Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1961-62, Tony Award), A Delicate Balance (1966, Pulitzer Prize; 1996, Tony Award), Seascape (1974, Pulitzer Prize), The Lady from Dubuque (1977-78), Finding the Sun (1982), The Play About the Baby (1997), The Goat or, Who is Sylvia? (2000, 2002 Tony Award). He is a member of the Dramatists Guild Council and was awarded the Gold Medal in Drama from the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters in 1980, and in 1996 received the Kennedy Center Honors and the National Medal of Arts. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 72 pages
• Publisher: Dramatists Play Service, Inc. (January 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0822218143
• ISBN-13: 978-0822218142
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 5.1 x 0.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,160,215 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #78 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Literature & Fiction > Drama > History

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Albee's Vaudeville, March 16, 2003

By 

Brian C. Dauth (Brooklyn, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Play About the Baby - Acting Edition (Paperback)

There was a time when all of Edward Albee's plays were published during or just after their runs. Even lesser known works such as The Lady from Dubuque and Everything in the Garden made it into print. So it is a delight to see that Overlook Press has issued The Play About The Baby in hardcover and will do the same with The Goat in May, 2003. If any American playwright needs to be in print, it is Edward Albee.

The Play About The Baby is Albee in vaudeville mode. The characters -- Man, Woman, Boy and Girl -- inhabit a timeless space where they engage in games of love, loss, pain and memory. The most obvious precursor here is Albee's own Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf. However, instead of the hypernaturalism of the earlier play, Albee goes for vaudeville this time. In fact, TPATB's Man and Woman might be George and Martha from Who's Afraid, having left New Carthage and now wandering around dispensing their hard-earned (and often unwanted) wisdom. (Or are Boy and Girl just George and Martha at an earlier phase of their lives? Albee's graceful allusiveness and ambiguity are in full force here). Either way, TPATB's humor, while less caustic than its predecessor's, is just as entertaining and theatrical.

But don't let me mislead you: both plays are scathing in their assessment of human behavior and clear in their demand that human beings look closely at themselves and the world in which they live. Albee is not out to comfort his audience (has he ever been?), but to confront them -- to wake up, take stock and abandon their cozy pipe dreams. Like O'Neill, Albee writes of the deadening illusions men and women wrap themselves in; like Williams he challenges the system of mendacity that rules people's lives.

If you were lucky enough to see The Play About The Baby when it ran Off-Broadway, reading it now will only deepen your appreciation for Albee's artistry. If you are coming to the work for the first time, look forward to a feast of stimulating wit and ideas.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Albee's Vaudeville, March 13, 2003

By 

Brian C. Dauth (Brooklyn, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Play About the Baby (Hardcover)

There was a time when all of Edward Albee's plays were published during or just after their runs. Even lesser known works such as The Lady from Dubuque and Everything in the Garden made it into print. So it is a delight to see that Overlook Press has issued The Play About The Baby in hardcover and will do the same with The Goat in May, 2003. If any American playwright needs to be in print, it is Edward Albee.

The Play About The Baby is Albee in vaudeville mode. The characters -- Man, Woman, Boy and Girl -- inhabit a timeless space where they engage in games of love, loss, pain and memory. The most obvious precursor here is Albee's own Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf. However, instead of the hypernaturalism of the earlier play, Albee goes for vaudeville this time. In fact, TPATB's Man and Woman might be George and Martha from Who's Afraid, having left New Carthage and now wandering around dispensing their hard-earned (and often unwanted) wisdom. (Or are Boy and Girl just George and Martha at an earlier phase of their lives? Albee's graceful allusiveness and ambiguity are in full force here). Either way, TPATB's humor, while less caustic than its predecessor's, is just as entertaining and theatrical.

But don't let me mislead you: both plays are scathing in their assessment of human behavior and clear in their demand that human beings look closely at themselves and the world in which they live. Albee is not out to comfort his audience (has he ever been?), but to confront them -- to wake up, take stock and abandon their cozy pipe dreams. Like O'Neill, Albee writes of the deadening illusions men and women wrap themselves in; like Williams he challenges the system of mendacity that rules people's lives.

If you were lucky enough to see The Play About The Baby when it ran Off-Broadway, reading it now will only deepen your appreciation for Albee's artistry. If you are coming to the work for the first time, look forward to a feast of stimulating wit and ideas.

5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Real Keeper, That Will You Brighten Your Life, May 22, 2002

A Kid's Review

This review is from: The Play About the Baby - Acting Edition (Paperback)

Edward Albee's The Play About The Baby, is a wonderfully written masterpiece, that is definitely worth the read. The jokes and witty remarks, that were not catched when viewed on stage, are clearly evident and will keep you entertained for hours. The play is about a younger couple who are madly in love with eachother, and in turn, have a child. Trouble arises, when an older couple steals the baby. Edward Albee's superb writing, turns the plot into an adventure that will leave you begging for more. It is one of the most enjoyable plays that I have read in a long time, and I suggest that you give it a try.