Women in isolation in the play's marriage to Edward Albee Marriage Play (1987)
Abstract
Edward Albee's career extends to more than fifty years during which he has exposed different images of male and female protagonists mostly within the same frame; domestic instability. Albee's men and women are middle-class couples who find themselves entrapped in a meaningless world. Most, if not all, of Albee's men are detached from their wives due to existential problems or middle- age crises. Women, therefore find themselves obliged to sustain their husbands and marriages alone. Women in Albee's élan are cynical, frustrated, articulate as well as brave, strong and domineering.
Marriage Play is one of Albee’s works that tackled such image of these women. The play was commissioned by the Vienna English Theater on March 17, 1987. The play was an example to a familiar Albee territory: husband and wife in a living room talking about their failed marriage. Marriage Play tackles a domestic instability that extends to “some duration and persistence between two heretofore quick and rational people”, Jack and Gillian1.
