THEATRE TOPICS 

Notes on a Colloquy with Edward Albee 

at The Denver Center for the Performing Arts
Sunday February 16, 1997 at 1:00pm. Sylvie Drake,  moderator. (obvious comment: These are notes, and not a transcript)

These notes are by Richard Finkelstein
Professor of Stage Design,
James Madison University

From Sylvie Drake's Introduction: Although we tend of late to talk about Edward Albee as a "three time Pulitzer winner", in actuality he has won three and a HALF times. The three awards were earned for "A Delicate Balance", "Seascape", and "Three Tall Women". He ALMOST received the award for Virginia Wolf. The jury had agreed on the play, but Pulitzer trustees found the play's language to be "dirty" and overturned the jury recommendation. Two jurors resigned in protest, so that year NO Pulitzer Prize was awarded in Theatre.

"Edward Albee is astonishing because his plays are". They reveal the extreme fragility of life.

In a 1980 interview, Albee claimed that: "The Function of an education is to learn how to educate yourself when you get out of school".

Edward Albee next made his remarks:

Edward Albee tends not to direct his plays as flashy as others might. He laments that directors often distort a playwright's work: "A play in production is 'proof' of a play, not an 'improvement'."

On the fine introduction to his presentation, Albee asks Ms. Drake: "by the way would you care to be Head Drama Critic of the _New York Times_? . . . It would help".

On the structure of the colloquy, Albee remarks that he was told that the goal would be to have "Short pithy questions with long interminable answers." . . . "Unless we hit on something I've prepared the ad-libs for."

On Ionesco's observation that: "The Arts are man's most useless . . . and essential . . . activity, Albee retorts: "I think he was being ironic . . . in his French slash Romanian way." "Art changes nothing . . . but CAN change everything."

"In art we must offer the opportunity to change who we are." Albee describes art as an act of illumination to comprehend more fully who we are. He further observes that man is the only animal who makes art. It was Man who invented the metaphor. He describes art as an aggressive art and laments those creating passive art.

In exploring further the difference in development between man and animals Albee cites current research on language development in Chimps and Gorillas. He remarks that with chimps, language ability seems to only be found with females.

On the five hundred word vocabulary learned in some of these animal experiments, Albee remarks: "Now if you've ever taken a taxi in New York you will find that these are more vocabulary than the cabbies have." . . . "But none of these chimps have written a play." "I am sure that if one does, it will immediately play on Broadway." "And given the state of Broadway today it will probably play for four years".

On becoming a playwright: "I wanted to be many things growing up. Instead I became a playwright." He finds that play writing encompasses all the other arts that had attracted his fancy. He goes on to add: "The only branch of writing I was coherent in was play writing." Later, when asked for advice by a beginning playwright he elaborates that often someone aspiring to be a writer might best suited for a genre other than that they at first see themselves working in. Albee himself, at first opted to be a poet. He cites examples of great novelists, poets and authors of short stories who began as unsuccessful playwrights.

Edward Albee Likens play writing to composing a string quartet but feels he can't quite articulate the reason. It is easier to articulate the similarities in the structure and the notational systems: "[In a play] there is a difference in duration between a comma and a semi-colon like the difference in music between the notes." He cites Beckett as having a "profound understanding of relationship between plays and music."

On the observation that he has "written some very grim plays", Albee simply retorts . . . "Thank you."

Edward Albee elaborates: "If communication between people is impossible why would I write?" "This is why I am an optimist." "[I guess one could say] my plays are 'grimly funny'." Later he adds: "There are only two things one can write about... living and dying" (pause).

On Jerry in Zoo Story: "It's a damn good role for one thing". On casting of the role, Mr Albee added that when younger actors play the role, they can appear to be self pitying.

On a quote of Albee's that he viewed _The Sandbox_ as close to perfection, Albee remarks that "It was my shortest play and I had less opportunities to make mistakes".

Albee describes _The Sandbox_ as "One play of mine where I used composed music." The score did not become background music but rather underlined the emotional content of the play. He advises those producing the play to rent the original music too for production.

When Sylvie Drake remarks that "_Tiny Alice_ remains your play with The most densely packed metaphysical conundrum", Albee replies: "Now there's a quote...that will pack them into the theatre". (Pause)

Sylvie Drake: "Let's move on."

On the accessibility of _Tiny Alice_ to audiences, Albee observed that nobody seemed puzzled in previews... until critics said audiences WOULD be puzzled. The play examines unconsciousness. It seems most effective when audiences simply let it sweep over them without asking too many questions. Albee pointed out that this is one of a few of his plays that he hasn't directed yet. "I should probably direct a production of _Tiny Alice_ and then I'll know what it means."

On a question of his "monster women" in plays such as _Virginia Wolf_, Albee observes that "I've never heard women tell me that."

On a statement Albee made that art has an obligation to offend, Albee added that this does not preclude other artistic values. Art can entertain AND offend. "One should offend those who do not look at alternative conclusions." "I don't set OUT to offend." "My plays concern those things I wish were different."

Albee then recounted a discussion with the critic Walter Kerr who was of the view that the ultimate value of a play depends on the number of people who like it. "Does that mean that _Life With Father_ is a better play than _King Lear?_".

Out of the blue: "I have never met a creative artist in my life that I've respected that was not a Democrat." Albee went on to muse that playwrights would never write about the likes of Gingrich and Armey etc. BUT... If such a play could be written, then critics do not have right to object to a play's content when that play has been written well. Critics and audiences alike have a responsibility to be sufficiently open minded so that positions can change.

A definition of Comedy from Edward Albee: "Perhaps in comedy, people get what they want, and in tragedy they don't."

On the comic side to his plays: "People are startled to find that my plays are very funny." Albee gave examples of actors thrown by this.

Albee claims a preference of Chekhov to Ibsen because Chekhov can be funny and serious at the same time. "They tell me that in Norwegian Ibsen has humor. (pause) I'll have to take that on faith (pause) But Ibsen is no kneeslapper."

On what he looks for in casting an actor: "Black magic". Albee views casting as an intuitive process . . . once one demonstrates a technical proficiency. On poor casting in his own work, Albee cryptically refers to "four well known American actors that we would be better off without". He would not "name names".

Albee then expressed concern that sometimes playwrights are asked to make their plays simpler or less heavy (although "the plays weigh the same") in an effort to get produced. Playwrights are pressured to accept bad stars as well, and to do less merely to get produced. Beginners are subject to a lot of pressure to make compromises. Albee views this situation as "a great shame, terrible."

Albee has come to be known for the riders he adds to his contracts. Early on in his career Albee added a contractual clause that plays could not be placed in segregated theatres.

Later, Albee cites a major theatre critic who wrote that the relationship in _Virginia Wolf_ could not be accepted as heterosexual, suggested instead that the play is really about two men. The misguided observation was built inspired by an article by Stanley Kaufman suggesting that some homosexual playwrights disguise discussions of homosexual relationships within heterosexual characters.

After these strange musings, some directors suggested doing _Virginia Wolf_ with casts of all men or women. Albee rebuts: "I don't know of any gay relationship where one of the characters had an hysterical pregnancy".

"[Now I add to my contracts the statement:] 'All of the roles in Mr Albee's plays must be played by actors of the same sex as the characters'." And later: "All words of the play must be presented . . . (pause) preferably in the order in which they are written."

When a particular Swedish "playwright/director" decided to cut one intermission revising the play to place the remaining intermission in the center of the script, Albee began to address that too in contracts.

"I don't know what I'll have to put in my contract next" (pause) "Audiences must arrive on time (pause) must be sober."

Sylvie Drake jumped in to recount a story of a Neil Simon play mounted in Sweden where two songs from _Oklahoma_ were inserted. Albee's retort: "I wonder if it was the same director?"

Albee then told a story of a Swedish director who made the mistake of showing him a photo of _Three Tall Women_ with an extra character. The director's explanation: "Oh don't worry. he's not really there he is a memory."

On a playwright's motivations and duties: "I haven't gotten where I am by writing about content people." He muses that past plays received mixed reviews. _Three Tall Women is the first of his plays to get better than mixed reviews. This was a concern at first. "What have I done wrong?"

Should a playwright's work answer questions? Albee answers: "My responsibility is to hold the mirror up to people. If they don't like what they see they may decide to change. My job is not to provide answers."

On critics, Albee adds that when he adapted _The Ballad of the Sad Cafe_ from Carson mcCuthers book, A critic said that Albee "had it easy" by just taking the dialog from the book and putting it on stage. Albee feels this to be a strange observation as the book had NO dialog.

On the question of moral issues explored in his work: "I'm sometimes hard pressed to find the immorality that people find in things."

On Albee's adaptation of _Lolita_: "It was the one time in my life I lost control." Later he referred to the: "Producer that still may be out of jail." "If the set falls down it is the playwright's fault because he obviously required a set that couldn't stand up." He summed up the experience of _Lolita_ as a "travesty".

As another example of failed adaptation, he cites a staged reading of _Three Sisters_ in London. Albee observed that British audiences don't like Russian plays SET in Russia. In this case the play was set in India during the British occupation. The adaptation didn't work: "India is not in the provinces seventy five miles from Moscow." "And, as Chekhov is in the public domain, 'who cares'."

On directing his own productions: "I like to direct the first productions of my plays because I like an audience to see and hear what I did when I wrote my plays."

When asked about favorite directors, Albee remarked that Alan schneider is "more interested in letting an audience learn what a playwright intended, than what the director wants an audience to think a DIRECTOR intended. He then adds: "I am the OTHER director I have had a long-term relation with." On Schneider's style, Albee noted that Schneider wanted to know everything possible about how the playwright was working. He would ask loads of questions of the playwright.

When asked about the characteristics that attract Albee to his own favorite playwrights, he remarks simply: "They don't lie."

On the difference between theatre here, and theatre elsewhere, Albee observes that European audiences have been going to the theatre for hundreds of years. Education in Europe "includes things like 'reading'." "Europeans come to the theatre more as a friend. They come better equipped." Albee also views European theatre as more sympathetic to experimentation and exploration of unpopular ideas.

When asked about the work of O'Neill, Albee remarks that O'NEILL, "has a tin ear". "All characters sound alike." Even so, "there is a monumental force to his work." Albee feels O'NEILL to be a writer of "extraordinary plays".

_Iceman Cometh_, in fact had a particular influence on Albee. He saw it five times in two weeks. While viewing the play as a "messy, long play", the work nevertheless "intrigued and fascinated" Albee. It became a driving force behind _Virginia Wolf_, a play with an opposite thesis. _Iceman_ proposed that "you have to have false illusions to survive" _Virginia Wolf_ proposed the opposite.

Although Albee claims that "it is always tricky to talk about influence", he attributes to O'NEILL a "courage to write long speeches."

On his recently renewed success on Broadway, Albee retorts: "just wait". He blames Broadway for a degree of "fickleness". When a critic mused that Albee should "write something new", Albee "made the mistake of listening" by writing _Cameno Real_. The critics then chastised him for not "doing what is expected." "I was no longer the fair haired boy." . . . "Williams had same problem."

Albee continues with the observation that only two of eighteen of his plays made money: _Virginia Wolf_ and _Everything in the Garden_, and these only for their film rights. He has produced no new play on Broadway since _The Man Who Had Three Arms_ in 1987 ?), however he continues to plays produced all over Europe. "There is a parochial view in New York, that if you don't produce there you don't exist."

Albee observes that Broadway no longer produces new work, turning to Regional Theatres for inspiration. He attributes this to a "Broadway mentality" catering to people who only go to theatre "for reaffirmation of what they already believe." As a result of these attitudes Broadway can be characterized by "lugubrious musicals that have infected our theatres."

When asked: "Why should I go to that depressing play? Isn't life depressing enough?", Albee replies: "But in my plays you can find COHERENCE."

On which of his works he prefers or is happiest with, Albee expresses a reasonable happiness with all his work, save _Lolita_. "I don't know which of my plays are better than others."

Reminded of his statement that the difference between critics and audiences is: "that one is a group of humans and one is not", Albee explains that a critic should come to the theatre with what we would expect of our audiences. "Objectivity, (sobriety), intelligence, and an open mind."

Next, the colloquy was opened to questions from the audience:

On the theatre company started by Albee: _Virginia Wolf_ made money so Albee started an experimental theatre. One hundred fifteen new plays were produced in fifteen years by many young playwrights. He characterized this as "an exciting time", and was pleased to have given playwrights an opportunity. "Everyone worked for free."

Asked about the "most challenging aspect of writing.": Albee says: "I don't know how to answer . . . I don't know if I have ever had problems in that regard."

On _The Sandbox_, an audience member speaks of directing a production in a prison "not knowing your rule" (about gender changes of characters). Albee's retort: "I think we'll tolerate that one".

On the autobiographical influences in _Sandbox_ Albee explained that his Grandmother had just died. Albee feels that she hadn't been treated well her last years.

Asked about the relationship between the conscious and unconscious mind, Albee observes that the conscious brain only accounts for 10% of our awareness. "By the time I am aware of a play I am thinking about, it is clear that I have been thinking about it for quite a while." He also observes that when he stops writing and later starts again he is farther along. We already contain it all, but our work is only revealed to our consciousness in stages. He cites the example of Michelangelo "liberating" his work from the stone.

On advice to the young playwright, Albee remarks that it is helpful to know that you ARE a playwright first. He cites examples of great writers who were bad playwrights, later finding their voice in another genre.

Other words of advice: "Study everything!" "Study the history of plays, music, and painting." "Keep your mind open." "Be sure you ARE a playwright". "FUNCTION as a playwright. He adds a plug for The Dramatists Guild. Last he adds: "Make sure you are tough enough."

On updating his scripts, Albee talks about the current London production of _Virginia Wolf_. The only change to the script concerns half a page cut over the years. He observes that _Virginia Wolf_ "seems to be as valid in 1997 as in 1962."

In _A Delicate Balance_, Albee cites the need to change a reference to a topless bathing suit, but generally, as he won't let others rework his plays, he feels a responsibility to refrain from rewrites himself. If a play was no longer valid, why produce it at all?

On inspiration for the characters in _Three Tall Women_, Albee observes that the characters are a combination of people that he has known. He believes the character of "A" in the play to be a bit more "coherent" than her real life counterpart, however "people who knew her say I was perhaps too nice to her."

On a question of gender from an audience remark that "females impressed that a man wrote this.", Albee observes that most playwrights "that are any good", are capable of putting themselves into the mind and body of any character they want to do. "It is part of the job and it comes naturally."

On Winning the Kennedy Center Medal of Honor:

"They weigh a lot, those things."

On _Zoo Story_ and it's producer, Barr, Albee remarks that he feels lucky that production was came within eighteen months of its writing. Barr felt it was a "playwright's theatre." On the first day of rehearsal for _Virginia Wolf_ , Barr took Albee aside, remarking "There is only one reason that they are here, because you wrote the play." Albee laments that theatre today is different.

Albee was then asked about writing on the road. He wrote the first act of _A Delicate Balance_ on an ocean liner to France, the second act in Europe, and the third act on the return trip. But now, "They've taken ocean liners away from me." . . . "But I like writing on planes, especially since it means I don't have to talk to the person next to me."

As a last observation, Albee tackles questions of life and death. Since the only thing we can be sure of in life is death, Albee feels that "life should be lived at the precipice . . . so that we don't come to the end of our life with regret for what we have not done."

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