Einstein on the Beach (Cyclopedia of Literary Characters)
At a glance:
- Author: Philip Glass, Robert Wilson
- First Published: 1976
- Type of Work: Play
- Type of Plot: Abstract
- Time of Work: The nineteenth and twentieth centuries
- Setting: A railroad platform, a courtroom, a spaceship, and elsewhere
- Genres: Drama, Women’s literature, Absurdist literature, Musical drama, Opera
- Subjects: Twentieth century, Space ships, stations, or vehicles, Trains, Time, Technology, Machinery
- Locales: Earth
Characters Discussed
Sixteen chorus members,
a violinist, and
four lead actors, each of whom wears a costume based on a photograph of Albert Einstein: baggy pants, suspenders, a short-sleeved shirt, and sneakers. The violinist actually resembles and represents Einstein, who played the violin; the other cast members perform actions and use props in ways that are loosely suggestive of Einstein’s habits, appearance, and work. In the first scene of act 1, for example, a female dancer carries a pipe (Einstein smoked a pipe), a man scribbles equations on a blackboard,...
[The entire page is 654 words long]
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