Edward Albee Občutljivo ravnovesje
A Delicate Balance, 1966

 

Translated by Alenka Klabus Vesel
Directed by Zvone Šedlabuer

 

Opening in November 2010

 

 

Albee's Pulitzer prize winning text is a delicate dissection of life in a family. Nothing dramatic really happens if one casts a casual glance, but each word starts a new war, opens a new battlefield, and a very ordinary dinner conversation seems like a walk through a minefield.  Agnes is very bossy, and to maintain her family reputation, decency and propriety she makes her husband Tobias's life living hell. She showers her drunken younger sister Claire with resentment and insults, and Claire gives as good as she gets. In this tense atmosphere where everybody is against everybody every single detail seems smutty.  We also learn that Agnes and Tobias's daughter Julia is returning home after her fourth divorce. But Edna and Harry arrive first. They are terrified, but wouldn’t or can't explain the reason for their terror. They just don't want to go home. They move into Julia's old room. Bitter arguments lead to nervous breakdowns, and beyond. To the very edge of madness. The fatal co-dependence of the people involved – of the two elderly couples, and two younger women who have had their share of wrecked marriages – forces each of them to find the delicate balance of coexistence, where an individual can be free and autonomous while still safely in the haven of his or her family.

 

It is one of Albee's excellent variations of the same subject. It talks about the breakdown of society that is supposedly based on humanity. There are less elements of the absurd in this play than in other works by the same author, but on the other hand it is brimming with traces of surrealism, enriching it and giving wider accents on its contents. Since this work draws many parallels with modern life, we chose to include it in our repertoire.