A Delicate Balance: A Play
by Edward Albee
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At a glance:
- Author: Edward Albee
- First Published: 1966
- Type of Work: Drama
- Type of Plot: Absurdist
- Setting: The living room of a large and well-appointed suburban house
- Characters: Agnes, Tobias, Claire, Julia, Edna and Harry
- 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, North America
The Story:
Agnes and Tobias, an affluent elderly couple married for about forty years, sip after-dinner drinks in their living room one autumnal Friday evening. They chat pleasantly about Agnes’s persistent belief that she might one day easily go mad. Agnes’s younger sister Claire comes down from her room to apologize for an embarrassing incident she caused during dinner and is severely rebuked by Agnes for her drunkenness. Agnes then goes to telephone her daughter Julia, who lives some distance away. Left alone with Claire, Tobias inquires about her previous experiences...
(The entire page is 2348 words.)
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