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Delicate Balance, A
Delicate Balance, A (1966), a play by Edward Albee. [Martin Beck Theatre, 132 perf.; Pulitzer Prize.] Sitting in their comfortable library after dinner, Agnes ( Jessica Tandy) confides to her husband that she sometimes worries about losing her mind. But her husband, Tobias ( Hume Cronyn), assures her he knows no saner woman. In short order the couple are visited by Agnes's younger sister ( Rosemary Murphy), a bitter, malicious alcoholic; by the couple's much married daughter ( Marian Seldes); and by Tobias's best friend ( Henderson Forsythe) and his wife ( Carmen Mathews), both of whom are frightened by something they cannot identify. The visits force Agnes and Tobias to reevaluate all their relationships and to recognize that they must maintain a delicate balance between sanity and madness. A curiously elusive play filled with stilted dialogue (“I apologize that my nature is such to bring out in you the full force of your brutality”), it was often more satisfying as an intellectual exercise than as a dramatic theatre piece. But an acclaimed Lincoln Center–produced revival in 1996, directed by Gerald Gutierrez and featuring Rosemary Harris, George Grizzard, and Elaine Stritch, revealed the play to be very funny and inexplicably moving.
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Cite this article
Gerald Bordman and Thomas S. Hischak. "Delicate Balance, A." The Oxford Companion to American Theatre. 2004. Encyclopedia.com. 28 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. Gerald Bordman and Thomas S. Hischak. "Delicate Balance, A." The Oxford Companion to American Theatre. 2004. Encyclopedia.com. (May 28, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O149-DelicateBalanceA.html Gerald Bordman and Thomas S. Hischak. "Delicate Balance, A." The Oxford Companion to American Theatre. 2004. Retrieved May 28, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O149-DelicateBalanceA.html |
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Delicate Balance, A
Delicate Balance, A, play by Edward Albee, produced and published in 1966 and awarded a Pulitzer Prize.
During an October weekend in their suburban home, Tobias and Agnes, a couple in their fifties, and Agnes's sister Claire, who lives with them, spend their time in quiet desperation, drinking heavily and talking about the local country club; and Agnes wonders if she might be losing her mind. They are unexpectedly visited by their friends, Harry and Edna, who have been frightened by some unexplained cause. Harry and Edna move into the house, much to the displeasure of Julia, Tobias, and Agnes's 36‐year‐old daughter, who has come home after breaking up with her fourth husband. Stormy scenes occur between the two couples until Harry and Edna depart and the old delicate balance of the home is restored, with Agnes once again discussing the possibility that she might go mad. |
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Cite this article
James D. Hart and and Phillip W. Leininger. "Delicate Balance, A." The Oxford Companion to American Literature. 1995. Encyclopedia.com. 28 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. James D. Hart and and Phillip W. Leininger. "Delicate Balance, A." The Oxford Companion to American Literature. 1995. Encyclopedia.com. (May 28, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O123-DelicateBalanceA.html James D. Hart and and Phillip W. Leininger. "Delicate Balance, A." The Oxford Companion to American Literature. 1995. Retrieved May 28, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O123-DelicateBalanceA.html |
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