A Delicate Balance
by City Theatre Company

May. 02 - May. 25, 2014

In 1966, when Edward Albee's A Delicate Balance had its Broadway premiere, just four years after his explosive hit Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, he had become the most discussed playwrights of his generation. It was no surprise that the play generated a storm of opinion. It was not 'flashy' like Virginia Woolf, but this social comedy (as Albee referred to it) was full of lacerating humor and heart-wrenching pathos. It weaves the uneasy existence of two suburbanites and their permanent houseguest, a witty alcoholic sister, whose lives are disrupted by the sudden appearance of lifelong friends who ask to stay and escape from an unnamed terror. They are followed soon by the couple’s bitter daughter, who returns home following the collapse of her fourth marriage. All of these elements together bring a firestorm of doubt, allegations, and betrayal, upsetting the "delicate balance" of the world they share. With his play, Albee holds up a funhouse mirror to the audience, reflecting his amusing and disturbing story about the fragile nature of marriages, families and friendships.

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A Delicate Balance
by Edward Albee
City Theatre Company