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Three Tall Women | Introduction

Critics have noted autobiographical elements in several of Albee’s plays, particularly Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf (1962) and A Delicate Balance (1966). By his own admission, however, Three Tall Women is Albee’s most intentionally autobiographical work to date.

The protagonist of the play, a compelling woman of more than ninety years old, reflects on her life with a mixture of shame, pleasure, regret, and satisfaction. She recalls the fun of her childhood and her marriage, when she had an overwhelming optimism for her future. Yet she bitterly recalls the negative events that resulted in regret: her husband’s extramarital affairs, the death of her husband, and the estrangement of her gay son.

The woman’s relationship with her son is the clearest indication that Albee was working through some troubled memories of his own in Three Tall Women. The playwright was raised by conservative New England foster parents who disproved of his homosexuality. Like the son in his play, he left home at eighteen. Albee admitted to the Economist that the play ‘‘was a kind of exorcism. And I didn’t end up any more fond of the woman after I finished it than when I started it.’’

Besides exorcising some personal demons with the play, Albee regained some respect among New York theater critics. Many critics despaired that the playwright, who showed such promise during the 1960s and 1970s, had dried up creatively. In fact, Three Tall Women was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1994, as well as the Drama Critics Circle, Lucille Lortel, and Outer Critics Circle awards for best play.

Three Tall Women Summary

Act I
At the beginning of Three Tall Women, three ladies—generically named A, B, and C—are sitting around a wealthy, extravagantly decorated bedroom.

A is an elderly woman who insists that she is ninety-one years old. A young, bright woman, C is the lawyer for A’s estate. She disagrees, and claims that A is actually ninety-two. B, who seems to be A’s caretaker, is fifty-two years old and attempts to mediate the dispute. These are the three tall women of the play’s title.

In spite of B’s objections and A’s protestations, C will not relent. She can’t understand why A would lie about one year of her life. ‘‘I can imagine taking off ten—or trying to,’’ C admits. ‘‘Though more probably seven, or five—good and tricky—but one!? Taking off one year? What kind of vanity is that? Their dispute is the beginning of a complicated gap between age and experience that grows wider, and more poignant, as the play progresses.

B accompanies A to the bathroom, then returns to the room to talk with C alone. B explains how difficult A’s life has become. She can no longer control some of her bodily functions. For example, she wets the bed; yet, stubborn as she is, A refuses to wear a diaper or take other precautions. B is philosophical regarding A’s predicament. ‘‘It’s downhill from sixteen on! For all of us!’’ she reminds C.

A returns from the bathroom, cranky and demanding. She takes her favorite chair back from C, asks for her pillows, and makes herself comfortable. Then she begins what may be a daily routine: she reminisces about her life when she was young, pretty, and popular. This continues for the remain der of Act I—A recalls stories from her youth, while B and C listen, comment, and learn from her experience.

As A chronicles her life as a young girl she is occasionally confused, but her demeanor remains dignified. Initially, C needles her for her petty prejudices and forgetfulness, but the women seem to bond during the conversation.

Just as A begins... » Complete Three Tall Women Summary