This volume of plays contains Edward Albee's four most famous one-act works. They are "Death of Bessie Smith", "Zoo Story", "American Dream", and "Sand Box".
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One-act play by Edward Albee, produced and published in 1959, about an isolated young man desperate to interact with other people. As the play opens, Peter (a publishing executive who is reading in New York City's Central Park) is approached by a stranger named Jerry. Announcing "I've been to the zoo!" Jerry proceeds to probe deep into Peter's life. He relates details from his own life--his stay in a rooming house with a bizarre landlady and her repulsive dog and his unsuccessful attempt to poison the dog. Peter grows increasingly agitated by this encounter. Jerry becomes abusive, tosses Peter a knife, provokes him into a fight, and impales himself on the knife. -- The Merriam-Webster Encyclopedia of Literature
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4.0 out of 5 stars
two out of three ain't bad,
This review is from: The Zoo Story (Paperback)
I bought this book because The Sandbox came highly recommended to me. I also bought it because of Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf?. Albee's introduction to these three plays was insightful and entertaining. Anything I know about Albee came from these pages. These are his first three real plays. The Zoo Story is the reason to own this book. Done in 1958, this one seems ahead of it's time. With the exception of Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf?, this could easily be his finest work of art. It involves a conversation between two men in Central Park, one of the participants is a reluctant listener to the mad ramblings of the other. What begins as an odd, unstable talk soon turns dangerous for both men. It is a danger that at first seems intangible, but becomes an overwhelming presence...the focal point, if you will. The dialogue is masterful. Albee's uncanny ability to shed brilliant light into the darkest corners of the human mind will likely lead you to wonder what demons lurk in the author's own mind. There is a genius and readability here that most playwrites will strive for over the span of their entire careers and never even approach. It's that good & to say more would ruin the story. The Death Of Bessie Smith drifts easily above an undercurrent of racism, pettiness, disappointment & futility. The actual events surrounding the death of the blues singer inspired this disturbing play. It is not a pretty thing to behold. But its subject matter is a very real scar upon the face of American history. As a reader, you will become as frustrated with the inability to offer a helping hand as does the intern. Again, the dialogue is dead on. It's a very good play, though short of the greatness Zoo Story so easily achieves. The Sandbox was a 14 minute play that wasn't even worth that much of my time. The characters were lifted from Albee's The American Dream. The symbolism may be very rich here, but I think I prefer the characters where they were originally intended. It's too short, somewhat incomplete. The Sandbox is the major flaw here. Mercifully, it's too short to undo what the rest of the book meticulously created. All in all, this is a wonderful book that I highly recommend for different reasons than the ones that led me to it.
1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Only 1 out of 3 is good...,
By
This review is from: The Zoo Story (Paperback)
This book has three of Edward Albee's early plays in it. Zoo Story(his first), an amateurish two-man drama, where one is a raving psycho and the other is a man drawn in and then repulsed. That would get only a star. "Death of Bessie Smith" is a message play, where racism is just oozing from most characters. It critizes, and it is ugly, but yet..feels so empty. Perhaps it is because Bessie never speaks for herself, only her paramour does pre-accident. Finally, "The Sandbox", which is the only good play in the book. It's about death, and our fear of it. Since it is has only one of three good plays, I say, don't bother.
0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
The Zoo Story,
By A Customer
This review is from: The Zoo Story (Paperback)
Excellent play. One of the best I have ever read
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