Exit
DWARD ALBEE, 84,
inches his way through
his apartment by cane,
settling into one of
many leather chairs that fill the
Tribeca loft with its overwhelming scent. Talk to him, and he will
run circles around you. Prickly and
quarrelsome, you’d think Albee
were out for blood if it weren’t for a
mischievous gleam in his eyes, and
the occasional, almost imperceptible, wink.
“I hope I haven’t been difficult,”
Albee said, as we ended. “I’m just
having a little fun.”
If Albee is difficult, it’s only in
the challenge he presents: to speak
and engage thoughtfully with those
around you; to be alive in your language. The author of Who’s Afraid
of Virginia Woolf? — celebrating its
50th anniversary on Saturday — is
regularly referred to as one of the
great American playwrights for his
scathing examinations of the human condition, often punctuated
by sadism, aggression and weakness. Albee carves his way through
The Zoo Story, A Delicate Balance,
Three Tall Women and some 25
other plays with razor-sharp dialogue.
“A playwright... is his work,” the
three-time Pulitzer Prize-winner
THEATER
HUFFINGTON
10.14.12
KEYSTONE-FRANCE/GAMMA-KEYSTONE VIA GETTY IMAGES
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said last year, and Albee lives by
this maxim, demanding the same
level of acuity in his conversation
as he does in his writing. “Always
be specific,” he recommends, generally. He has reason to belabor this
point. As a playwright, Albee’s work
is fully realized when it reaches
Elizabeth
Taylor and
Richard
Burton star
as Martha
and George
in the film
version of
Virginia
Woolf.