Edward Albee

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Edward Albee (USA, 1928)

Delicate Balance (1965) [t]

synopsis forthcoming

Seascape (1975) [t]

synopsis forthcoming

Three Tall Women (1991) [t]

synopsis forthcoming

Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf (1962) [t] +

A couple lives on a campus: the 52-year-old Martha, daughter of the president of the university, and her younger husband, George, a professor of history. They are returning half drunk from a party. Her father suggested that they befriend a new younger couple and they invited the couple over: Nick, a professor of biology, and Honey. It is very late at night. They start drinking. Martha and George, clearly an unhappy couple, engage in brutal vulgar arguments in front of Nick and Honey who feel embarrassed. Martha reveals that the following day is the birthday of Martha's and George's son, a fact that upsets George. George keeps disparaging Martha and Martha makes fun of George, who failed to take advantage of her father's protection and never progressed in the hierarchy. Martha implies that their son too doesn't admire George, but George claims that the boy is simply scared of his abusive mother. Martha says that George is not sure the boy is his son (implying that she cheated on him) but George denies it. They can't even agree on the color of her son's eyes. Martha keeps ranting against George. George starts dancing with an increasingly drunk Honey. Honey needs to go to the restrooms and Martha goes to check on her. George and Nick become hostile to each other. Nick reveals that he married Honey because she thought she was pregnant but she wasn't. We also learn that Honey's father is rich. George tells Nick the story of a boy who, thirty years earlier, accidentally killed both his mother and his father and was sent to an asylum. Since the story happened when George himself was a boy, we guess that it is a true story: the story of George himself. George and Nick become hostile again. When Martha and Honey reappear, George and Martha argue again over their son. Martha tells the guests how her father stopped George from publishing his novel, a novel about a boy who accidentally killed his mother and father (the story that George just told Nick as a real event). A humiliated George even tries to strangle Martha but is stopped by Nick. George tries to entertain them with the plot of his new novel, which is simply the story of Honey and Nick's relationship as told to him by Nick a few minutes earlier. Honey gets angry at Nick for divulging their most intimate secrets and leaves the room. Martha flirts with Nick and George ignores them. Martha and Nick move to another room and have sex. George knows it but doesn't stop them. Honey reappears and George hints at what is going on in the other room but Honey is too drunk and innocent to understand. Honey rants for a while and George understands that she doesn't want to have children and schemes to deter Nick. George tells Honey that he can sense that their son is dead and prepares to inform Martha that her son died. Martha returns to the room and implies that Nick is impotent. George reenters behaving like a clown. He tells Honey that he receives the telegram announcing his son's death in a car accident. They play another game (one of the many in the play) which George can use to reveal that the son is dead. Martha goes on a lengthy description of their son while George recites Latin passages from the Requiem and Kyrie Eleison. Finally, George tells Martha that their son is dead. She is devastated, but she demands to see the telegram and he refuses to show it. Martha and George argue over the death and Nick realizes that the boy never existed: they invented a son because they couldn't have one. Martha broke the rules of their private "game" by initially mentioning their son and George punished her by killing him. The young couple leaves. The sun is up. The long night ended. Martha and George are alone again.