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Wednesday, 2 March 2011

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Glimpses: The Zoo Story

The American playwright Edward Albee, famous for his powerful dialogue drama Who is Afraid of Virginia Woolf which was made into a superb film with Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor, is sometimes identified as one of the playwrights grouped as the ‘Absurd Theatre’ dramatists. He also wrote a play called The Zoo Story. What is “Absurd Theatre”? To know about it we have to go to an authority on the subject - Martin Eslin.

He explains:



Edward Albee

“It does not reflect despair or a return to dark irrational forces but expresses modern man’s endeavour to come to terms with the world in which he lives. It attempts to make him face up to the human condition as it really is, to freedom from illusions that are bound to cause constant maladjustment and disappointment. The dignity of man lies in his ability to face reality in all its senselessness to accept freely without fear, without illusions- and to laugh at it.”

Edward Albee adds:

“The Theatre of the Absurd is an absorption in art of certain existentialist philosophical concept having to do in the man, with man’s attempt to make sense for himself out of his senseless position in a world which makes no sense because the religious, political and social structures man has created to himself have collapsed.”

My understanding of the play can be summed up as follows:

Human’s condition is not only absurd but also is subhuman. The way Albee presents the human condition it appears completely absurd. We must remember the fact that the play exhibits certain characteristics of Existentialism. To understand the philosophy of Jean Paul Sartre and Albert Camus et al, we should read their works. It is difficult to sum up here in this column. The protagonist in this play, Jerry is struggling for existence in the jungle of the city. He makes his choice freely: Death.


Elizabeth Taylor in Who Is Afraid of Virginia

His death is a deliberate act of protest against the evils, wrongs of the city, the injustice of the system, the upper middle class values in New York. He lives an isolated man and in a void.

Readers would remember that the play takes place in the Central Park in New York City on a summer Sunday afternoon.

The paradox in the play is that though a disgruntled man, Jerry loved himself, humans and animals. Before he puts into action his decision, he declared that –

“I love the dog now, and I want him to love me. I had tried to love and I have tried to kill and both had been unsuccessful It’s just that if you can’t deal with people, you have to make a start somewhere with animals…with someday with people.”

Although Jerry was loved, he never accepted love is one of the characteristics of his character. I tend to agree with critic Richard Goldstone when he asks –“Do not the experiences with Jerry’s landlady and her dog bring him to a realization what his life has been, and what it might have been and what it now can never become?”

Jerry made his living through offering sexual services- homosexuality. Empathy, compassion results in our viewing his pathetic condition.

We must also note that the other character in the play, Peter’s role becomes clear only in the last few moments.

As Gladstone observed Jerry is intentionally comic and “The Zoo Story has to do with expiation, redemption and vicarious atonement”

The ‘Absurd Theatre’ though not in vogue now is till gives meaning to somewhat meaningless existence most of us engage at times.

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