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The Zoo Story & The Sandbox
Yellow Pamphlet Booklet with Two Plays. This Edition of 'The Zoo Story' contains revisions to the original text. These revisions were made by the author in 1999 during rehearsals for his production of the play at the Alley Theatre in Houston, Texas. Diagram of stage arrangements and Property Lists for each play are included. 42 pages. 7.75 x 5.2 inches. Dramatists Play Service, Inc., USA, 1961.
72 pages, Paperback
First published December 1, 1961
2 people are currently reading
210 people want to read
About the author
Edward Albee
187 books581 followersNoted American playwright Edward Franklin Albee explored the darker aspects of human relationships in plays like
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
(1962) and
Three Tall Women
(1991), which won his third Pulitzer Prize.
People know Edward Franklin Albee III for works, including The Zoo Story , The Sandbox and The American Dream .
He well crafted his works, considered often unsympathetic examinations of the modern condition. His early works reflected a mastery and Americanization of the theater of the absurd, which found its peak in European playwrights, such as Jean Genet, Samuel Barclay Beckett, and Eugène Ionesco. Younger Pulitzer Prize-winner Paula Vogel credits daring mix of theatricalism and biting dialogue of Albee with helping to reinvent the postwar theater in the early 1960s. Dedication of Albee to continuing to evolve his voice — as evidenced in later productions such as The Goat or Who Is Sylvia? (2000) — also routinely marks him as distinct of his era.
Albee described his work as "an examination of the American Scene, an attack on the substitution of artificial for real values in our society, a condemnation of complacency, cruelty, and emasculation and vacuity, a stand against the fiction that everything in this slipping land of ours is peachy-keen."
People know Edward Franklin Albee III for works, including The Zoo Story , The Sandbox and The American Dream .
He well crafted his works, considered often unsympathetic examinations of the modern condition. His early works reflected a mastery and Americanization of the theater of the absurd, which found its peak in European playwrights, such as Jean Genet, Samuel Barclay Beckett, and Eugène Ionesco. Younger Pulitzer Prize-winner Paula Vogel credits daring mix of theatricalism and biting dialogue of Albee with helping to reinvent the postwar theater in the early 1960s. Dedication of Albee to continuing to evolve his voice — as evidenced in later productions such as The Goat or Who Is Sylvia? (2000) — also routinely marks him as distinct of his era.
Albee described his work as "an examination of the American Scene, an attack on the substitution of artificial for real values in our society, a condemnation of complacency, cruelty, and emasculation and vacuity, a stand against the fiction that everything in this slipping land of ours is peachy-keen."
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Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
December 26, 2024
"Where better to make a beginning... to understand and just possibly be understood... a beginning of an understanding, than with... than with A DOG. Just that; a dog."
"Now, here is what I had wanted to happen: I loved the dog now, and I wanted him to love me. I had tried to love, and I had tried to kill, and both had been unsuccessful by themselves. I hoped... and I don't really know why I expected the dog to understand anything, much less my motivations... I hoped that the dog would understand."
"Now, here is what I had wanted to happen: I loved the dog now, and I wanted him to love me. I had tried to love, and I had tried to kill, and both had been unsuccessful by themselves. I hoped... and I don't really know why I expected the dog to understand anything, much less my motivations... I hoped that the dog would understand."
March 31, 2023
The Zoo Story was absolutely absurd but had a lot to read into. I enjoyed how silly it was but also how relatable both characters were. It’s a super short play and was a solid play.
October 15, 2020
Onvan : The Zoo Story & The Sandbox - Nevisande : Edward Albee - ISBN : 0822212951 - ISBN13 : 9780822212959 - Dar 72 Safhe - Saal e Chap : 1961
Read
July 9, 2015I found this tedious, ludicrous and frankly quite stupid. Both plays were pointless. Perhaps seeing them live would help me to understand the ideas of each play but in paper they are both ridiculous.
May 5, 2007
Two of my absolute favorite plays. Albee has an insight into the human mind and exposes human nature in a way that always amazes me.
January 3, 2008
Sometimes one has to go a long distance out of one's way in order to come back the right distance correctly.
January 1, 2009
3 1/2 stars. The Sandbox is an interesting idea, but is the play is too short to really develop it into anything substantial. The Zoo Story is a short, but memorable sketch of anger and loneliness.
January 18, 2009
Albee is America'a premier dramatist, and these two are a stunning example why. These are also his most well known plays. The sandbox is my favorite of the two.
October 29, 2009
The ending was the best part of Zoo Story. It's what turned a rather long and annoying play to something worthy to think about.
January 7, 2013
These two short plays Re just fantastic.
November 5, 2015
Completely absurd, and not in a good way.
January 12, 2014
An absolutely stunning and masterful play that, by all rights of narrative, should not work at all. But it does. It does.
April 19, 2015
Both of these plays were absurd and excellent. Albee is a revolution in and of himself.
February 24, 2024
I've already reviewed The Zoo Story (5/5 go read it) but I couldn't find an entry specifically for The Sandbox on Goodreads, so just pretend this is it.
Wow, Albee was shaping up to unquestionably be my favorite playwright ever... and then he had to drop this. It's not the worst thing ever, but it is certainly a major step down from his other works. Scratch that, it's more like a backflip off a cliff into concrete that was painted blue so people would think they were diving into water. I know minimalism can work well to make a grand point about existence, but this is just too much. None of the characters are anything. Whatever symbolism they're supposed to represent is swept away by their flat absurdity.
Worst of all: I never laughed at anything. I barely even smiled as they buried the grandma in sand, which is unthinkable considering I love burying people alive! I'm fine with absurd plays about nothing as long as they illustrate that absurdity by being, ya know, funny. None of the jokes land, any meaning is lost to me, and I feel like the play is not even bad enough to be considered a super meta satire of some sort. It's just bad (in my opinion, which is objective). I was originally going to give it two stars as I can kinda maybe sorta see what Albee was getting at if I squint hard enough, but the sheer apathy I feel towards anything that happened sinks it below that sadly. I think I read somewhere that Albee considers this to be the best of his works, which is just... what?
Wow, Albee was shaping up to unquestionably be my favorite playwright ever... and then he had to drop this. It's not the worst thing ever, but it is certainly a major step down from his other works. Scratch that, it's more like a backflip off a cliff into concrete that was painted blue so people would think they were diving into water. I know minimalism can work well to make a grand point about existence, but this is just too much. None of the characters are anything. Whatever symbolism they're supposed to represent is swept away by their flat absurdity.
Worst of all: I never laughed at anything. I barely even smiled as they buried the grandma in sand, which is unthinkable considering I love burying people alive! I'm fine with absurd plays about nothing as long as they illustrate that absurdity by being, ya know, funny. None of the jokes land, any meaning is lost to me, and I feel like the play is not even bad enough to be considered a super meta satire of some sort. It's just bad (in my opinion, which is objective). I was originally going to give it two stars as I can kinda maybe sorta see what Albee was getting at if I squint hard enough, but the sheer apathy I feel towards anything that happened sinks it below that sadly. I think I read somewhere that Albee considers this to be the best of his works, which is just... what?
December 3, 2019
Very nostalgic to read. I saw it once at the Suzanne Roberts Theatre in Philadelphia.
The second play has a whimsy to it that is charming. A bit zany and philosophical.
Also I'd be remiss if I didn't recommend Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
The second play has a whimsy to it that is charming. A bit zany and philosophical.
Also I'd be remiss if I didn't recommend Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
October 20, 2021
I was in a production of The Zoo Story in college (as Peter) so my rating's mostly nostalgic. I don't "get" Edward Albee, but a lot of what I've read, I've liked.
October 11, 2023
I really liked this play. I picked it up for class but really enjoyed it. The history of it was fascinating.
February 24, 2008
Albee signed my copy. He's the bee's knees.
February 18, 2011
I like the absurdist ideas, but not really my cuppa tea.
December 23, 2012
This is hands down one of my favorite plays of all time. It is SO much fun to direct.
October 26, 2013
Strange but genius
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews