A Delicate Balance (Masterplots II: Drama)
At a glance:
- Author: Edward Albee
- First Published: 1966
- Type of Work: Absurdist
- Time of Work: October, sometime in the mid-1960’s
- Setting: Somewhere in the American suburbs
- Principal Characters: Agnes, Tobias, Claire, Julia, Harry, Edna
- Genres: Drama, Absurdist literature
- Subjects: 1960’s, Family or family life, Parents and children, Communication, Fear, Existentialism, Suburban life, Houses, mansions, or manors
- Locales: United States
The Play
A Delicate Balance takes place in the well-appointed living room of Tobias and Agnes and spans less than forty-eight hours. The function of act 1 is to introduce the cast of characters, including one (Julia) who does not appear in that act. Tobias, a successful businessman recently retired, is having an after-dinner drink with his wife. Agnes contemplates, not unpleasantly, what it would be like to go mad, and they discuss Agnes’ alcoholic younger sister, Claire, who lives with them and who soon appears on the scene. When Agnes leaves to phone her daughter,...
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