Edward Albee's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (The Fourth Wall) - Softcover

Book 15 of 22: The Fourth Wall

Bennett, Michael Y.

 
9781138097421: Edward Albee's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (The Fourth Wall)
Softcover
ISBN 10: 113809742X ISBN 13: 9781138097421
Publisher: Routledge, 2018

Synopsis

Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? shocked audiences and critics alike with its assault on decorum. At base though, the play is simply a love story: an examination of a long-wedded life, filled with the hopes, dreams, disappointments, and pain that accompany the passing of many years together.

While the ethos of the play is tragicomic, it is the anachronistic, melodramatic secret object―the nonexistent "son"―that upends the audience’s sense of theatrical normalcy. The mean and vulgar bile spewed among the characters hides these elements, making it feel like something entirely "new."

As Michael Y. Bennett reveals, the play is the same emperor, just wearing new clothes. In short, it is straight out of the grand tradition of living room drama: Ibsen, Chekhov, Glaspell, Hellmann, O’Neill, Wilder, Miller, Williams, and Albee.

"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.

About the Author

Michael Y. Bennett is Associate Professor of English at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, USA.

"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.

Publisher
Routledge
Publication date
2018
Language
English
ISBN 10 
113809742X
ISBN 13 
9781138097421
Binding
Paperback
Edition number
1
Number of pages
68