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Quote by Edward Albee

“The most profound indication of social malignancy ... no sense of humor. None of the monoliths could take a joke.”

Quote by Edward Albee

Book:Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?: A Play

Work

Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?: A Play

Edward Albee's renowned play delves into the complex relationship between George and Martha, a seemingly perfect couple whose marriage is crumbling under the weight of their secrets and lies. The play is known for its intense dialogue and exploration of the human condition. more

Author

American playwright, known for his unique dramatic style and profound exploration of modern family relationships. Edward Albee's works often involve complex interpersonal relationships and moral dilemmas, and his plays hold a significant place in 20th-century American theater. more

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“When I'm writing a play I hear it like music. I use the same indications that a composer does for duration. There's a difference, I tell my students, between a semi-colon and a period. A difference in duration. And we have all these wonderful things, we use commas and underlining and all the wonderful punctuation things we can use in the same way a composer uses them in music. And we can indicate, as specifically as a composer, the way we want our piece to sound.”

Way Want Writing Doe Play Use Sound Differences Pieces Wonderful Students Periods Composer Wonderful Things Indication Duration Punctuation Playwriting

Author:Edward Albee

“Anything you put in a play -- any speech -- has got to do one of two things: either define character or push the action of the play along.”

Two Play Character Action Speech Two Things Playwriting

Author:Edward Albee

“There are lots of young vital playwrights who are experimenting, and these are the plays that people who are interested in the theatre should see. They should go off Broadway. They should go to the cafe theatres and see the experiments that are being made.”

People Should Made Play Young Theatre Experiments Broadway Playwright Cafes

Author:Edward Albee

“The condition of the theater is always an accurate measure of the cultural health of a nation. A play always exists in the present tense (if it is a valuable one), and its music -- its special noise -- is always contemporary. The most valuable function of the theater as an art form is to tell us who we are, and the health of the theater is determined by how much of that we want to know.”

Source: Stretching My Mind: The Collected Essays of Edward Albee

“The notion that women are less aesthetically profound and innovative than men--just not very important, if you know what I mean--doubtless spreads back to our beginnings as upright animals: the males hunted and killed for the family while the females stayed home in the cave and tended the strange little creatures they were giving birth to.”

Ifs Knows Men Giving Mean Littles Important Home Women Animal Strange Birth Creatures Female Profound Males Notion Spread Caves Innovative Giving Birth Hunted

Book:Lee Krasner: paintings from 1965 to 1970

Source: Lee Krasner: paintings from 1965 to 1970

“The responsibility of the writer is to be a sort of demonic social critic -- to present the world and people in it as he sees it and say, "Do you like it? If you don't like it, change it.”

People Ifs World Writing Social Responsibility Critics You Like It Demonic

Book:Conversations with Edward Albee

Source: Conversations with Edward Albee

“I think that's foolishness on the part of the playwright to write about himself. People don't know anything about themselves.”

People Thinking Knows Writing Foolishness Playwright

Author:Edward Albee

“In a democracy you cannot stop public access to that art that will most misinform the people. You cannot stop people from being misinformed. But what you can do is to educate the people to the point that they will throw the rascals out.”

People Art Can Do Democracy Access Educate Rascals

Book:Stretching My Mind: The Collected Essays of Edward Albee

Source: Stretching My Mind: The Collected Essays of Edward Albee

“That's the happiest moment. When it's all done. When we stop. When we can stop.”

Book:The Collected Plays of Edward Albee: 1979-2003

Source: The Collected Plays of Edward Albee: 1979-2003

“I don't think I've ever written about me. I'm not a character in any of my plays, except that boy, that silent boy that turns up in Three Tall Women.”

Thinking Play Character Turns Three Boys Written Silent Tall Tall Women

Book:Stretching My Mind: The Collected Essays of Edward Albee

Source: Stretching My Mind: The Collected Essays of Edward Albee