User:Topazkcn

Edward Albee

The Sandbox

A Brief Play, in Memory of My Grandmother (1876-1959)

PLAYERS

The young man

Mommy

Daddy

Grandma

The Musician

Mommy: Well, here we are; this is the beach.

Daddy: I'm cold

Mommy: Don't be silly; it's as warm as toast. Look at that nice young man over there: he doesn't think it's cold. Hello.

Young Man: Hi!

Mommy: This will do perfectly...don't you think so, Daddy? There's sand there...and the water beyond. What do you think, Daddy?

Daddy: Whatever you say, Mommy.

Mommy: Well, of course...whatever I say. Then, it's settled, is it?

Daddy: She's your mother, not mine.

Mommy: I know she's my mother. What do you take me for? All right, now; let's get on with it. You! Out there! You can come in now. Very nice; very nice. Are you ready, Daddy? Let's go get Grandma.

Daddy: Whatever you say, Mommy.

Mommy: Of course, whatever I say. You can begin now.

Young Man: Hi!

Daddy: Where do we put her?

Mommy: Wherever I say, of course. Let me see...well...all right, over there...in the sandbox. Well, what are you waiting for, Daddy?...The sandbox!

Grandma: Ahhhhh! Graaaaa!

Daddy: What do we do now?

Mommy: You can stop now. What do you mean, what do we do now? We go over there and sit down, of course. Hello there.

Young Man: Hi!

Grandma: Ahhhhhh! Ah-haaaaaa! Graaaaaa!

Daddy: Do you think...do you think she's...comfortable?

Mommy: How would I know?

Daddy: What do we do now?

Mommy: We...wait. We...sit here...and we wait...that's what we do.

Daddy: Shall we talk to each other?

Mommy: Well, you can talk, if you want to...if you can think of anything to say...if you can think of anything new.

Daddy: No...I suppose not.

Mommy: Of course not!

Grandma: Haaaaaa! Ah-ha-aaaaaa!

Mommy: Be quiet, Grandma...just be quiet, and wait. She's throwing sand at me! You stop that, Grandma; you stop throwing sand at Mommy! She's throwing sand at me.

Grandma: GRAAAAA!

Mommy: Don't look at her. Just...sit here...be very still...and wait. You...uh...you go ahead and do whatever it is you do.

Grandma: Ah-haaaaaa! Graaaaaa! Honestly! What a way to treat an old woman! Drag her out of the house...stick her in a car...bring her out here from the city...dump her in a pile of sand...and leave her here to set. I'm eighty-six years old! I was married when I was seventeen. To a farmer. He died when I was thirty. Will you stop that, please? I'm a feeble old woman...how do you expect anybody to hear me over that peep! peep! peep! There's no respect around here. There's no respect around here!

Young Man: Hi!

Grandma: My husband died when I was thirty, and I had to raise that big cow over there all by my lonesome. You can imagine what that was like. Lordy! Where'd they get you?

Young Man: Oh...I've been around for a while.

Grandma: I'll bet you have! Heh, heh, heh. Will you look at you!

Young Man: I'll bet you have! Heh, heh, heh. Will you look at you!

Young Man: Isn't that something?

Grandma: Boy, oh boy; I'll say. Pretty good.

Young Man: I'll say.

Grandma: Where ya from?

Young Man: Southern California.

Grandma: Figgers; figgers. What's your name, honey?

Young Man: I don't know...

Grandma: Bright, too!

Young Man: I mean...I mean, they haven't given me one yet...the studio...

Grandma: You don't say...you don't say. Well...uh, I've got to talk some more...don't you go'way.

Young Man: Oh, no.

Grandma: Fine; fine. You're...you're an actor, hunh?

Young Man: Yes. I am.

Grandma: I'm smart that way. Anyhow, I had to raise...that over there all by my lonesome; and what's next to her there...that's what she married. Rich? I tell you...money, money, money. They took me off the farm...which was real decent of them...fixed a nice place for me under the stove...gave me an army blanket...and my own dish...my very own dish! So, what have I got to complain about? Nothing, of course. I'm not complaining. Shouldn't it be getting dark now, dear?

Daddy: It's nighttime.

Mommy: Shhhh. Be still...wait.

Daddy: It's so hot.

Mommy: Shhhhhh. Be still...wait.

Grandma: That's better. Night. Honey, do you play all through this part? Well, keep it nice and soft; that's a good boy. That's nice.

Daddy: What was that?

Mommy: It was nothing.

Daddy: IT was...it was...thunder...or a wave breaking...or something.

Mommy: It was an off-stage rumble...and you know what that means...

Daddy: I forget...

Mommy: It means the time has come for poor Grandma...and I can't bear it!

Daddy: I...I suppose you've got to be brave.

Grandma: That's right, kid; be brave. You'll bear up, you'll get over it.

Mommy: Ohhhhhhhhhh...poor Grandma...poor Grandma...

Grandma: I'm fine! I'm all right! It hasn't happened yet.

Mommy: Ohhhhhhhhh...Ohhhhhhhhh...

Grandma: Don't put the lights up yet...I'm not ready; I'm not quite ready. All right, dear...I'm about done.

Grandma: I don't know how I'm supposed to do anything with this goddam toy shovel...

Daddy: Mommy! It's daylight!

Mommy: So it is! Well! Our long night is over. We must put away out tears, take off our mourning...and face the future. It's our duty.

Grandma: ...take off our mourning...face the future...Lordy!

Young Man: Hi!

Mommy: ____ly! It's...it's hard to be sad...she looks...so happy. It pays to do things well. All right, you can stop now, if you want to. I mean, stay around for a swim, or something; it's all right with us. Well, Daddy...off we go.

Daddy: Brave Mommy!

Mommy: Brave Daddy!

Grandma: It pays to do things well...Boy, oh boy! ...well, kids......I...I can't get up. I...I can't move...

Grandma: I...can't move...

Young Man: Shhhhh...be very still...

Grandma: I...I can't move...

Young Man: Uh...ma'am; I...I have a line here.

Grandma: Oh, I'm sorry, sweetie; you go right ahead.

Young Man: I am...uh...

Grandma: Take your time, dear.

Young Man: I am the Angel of Death. I am...uh...I am come for you.

Grandma: What...wha......ohhhh...ohhhh, I see.

Grandma: Well...that was very nice, dear...

Young Man: Shhhhh...be still...

Grandma: What I meant was...you did that very well, dear...

Young Man: ...oh...

Grandma: No; I mean it. You've got that...you've got a quality.

Young Man: Oh...thank you; thank you very much...ma'am.

Grandma: You're...you're welcome...dear.

On the face of it, this little play is absurd-absurd both in the way it is presented and in what happens in it. It is not, although, simply a horseplay. I has a serious subject, GRANDMA and YOUNG MAN.

The word absurd, used above, itself demands attention, since it has been much used with reference to contemporary theater. The word suggests two different meanings: funny and meaningless. Meaningless functions here. Funny isn't always meaningless. Meaningless isn't always funny.

Characters of Mommy and Daddy are the same. They are selfish to Grandma and generous to Young Man. They throw things away to Grandma; but, those toys turns out to be great presents for their Grandma. They seems to be generous to Young Man; but, Grandma finds out the Young Man is totally spoiled.

"Whatever you say, Mommy" tells us his relationship to Mommy is close to slavery. Mommy and Daddy do not care about Grandma's death and burial, especially Mommy she wants to bury Grandma in a way she wants to in a sandbox where Grandma cannot move. Even though Mommy wanted Grandma to be happy in a sandbox, there existed a discrepancy of teasing Grandma by Mommy. After death, Grandma is does not have any effect whatever she does. She's not complaining.

Musician is playing very absurd part which is not even speakable because there are some pity going on between Grandma and Young Man's conversation. The most contrasting part of the Young Man is that he is an actor who is trying to have his own studio. Grandma is a person who lived a very hard life in her farm and her daughter is raised by her; even though, she married a very rich Daddy, they should have some respect toward Grandma who seems to be very tired of being respected that much. The Young Man seems like a person who shouldn't deserve longer life than Grandma to go through a burden of life to improve the life as much as Grandma did at the farm to raise her daughter.

Contemporary American life is presented in the play. They have simple family and having a Grandma included in their family makes it a big issue. Grandma takes care of children, sometimes, for benefits of the family, but they do not a satisfying job, little bit less than social aspect expects these days. The play make a judge of contemporary American life that simple unit of each family in Canada is going to such a big change everyday with a lot of struggle. Grandma is a character, most appealing in this play. She has her own story. Others don't. Others have wishes to make or do in their future. Grandma had her story but her story seems almost unrealistic to contemporary Americans. She sounds like complaining; but, Mommy gladly takes her complaints and tries to pursue Grandma.

He has an attitude of sending Grandma away and fall into his own world in his own studio; and be ready to become a movie star, an entertainer. He has a dream to have a job that is almost impossible and crucial for his future. Everybody thinks Mommy who were raised in a farm by Grandma can raise Young Man never to be spoiled; but he is spoiled now. He has both evil and angel in him. He has to be saved; but at the same time he needs to find a way to survive on his own. The bareness of the stage has a symbolic meanings of absurdity and beach. The sandbox has a symbolic meaning of playground. The toy pail and shovel have a symbolic meaning like the play does. The dimming and extinguishing of the lights has a symbolic meaning of wasted time. Grandma's burying herself with sand has a symbolic meaning of her boredom from nothing to do. The fact that Grandma is buried before she is dead has a symbolic meaning of assumption and what happened. The young man's kissing Grandma has a symbolic meaning of compromise but only a wish and sacredness of scolding. At various points in the action the characters seem aware that they are performers in a play. This has an effect to laugh in the audience as a good response to it.

This play attempts to establish a new form of theatricals and to confront our dilemma. Iconoclastic affect to reveal inability of language was used.

Eugene O'Neill

Eugene O'Neill (1888-1953) is a major figure in American drama. His enormous output is in the tradition of realism established by Strindberg and Ibsen; and his early plays, such as Anna Christie (1921), introduced Americans to the techniques of the great European realists. Realism for Americans was a more away from the sentimental comedies, the pathetic dramas, and the melodrama that dominated the American stage from before the Civil War to World War I. Some of O'Neill's plays, such as Strange Interlude (1928) and Dynamo (1929), were expressionist in style, demonstrating a considerable range. O'Neill rejected the kind of theater in which his father had thrived. James O'Neill had long been a stage star, traveling across the country in his production of The Count of Monte Cristo, which had made him rich but had also made him a prisoner of a single role.

Eugene O'Neill won the Pulitzer Prize for drama three times in the 1920s and the Nobel Prize for literature in 1936. Although not popular successes in his own day, his plays-including those published posthumously-are now mainstays of the American theater. Some of America's finest actors have taken a strong interest in his work, both producing his plays and acting in them on the stage and on television. From the 1950s to the 1990s, the late Colleen Dewhurst and Jason Robards, Jr., in particular, gave some magnificent performances and interpretations of O'Neill's work.

The young O'Neill was a romantic in the popular sense of the word. After a year at Princeton University, he behan to travel on the sea. His jaunts took him to South America, and he once wound up virtually broke and without resources in Buenos Aires. When he returned to America, he studies for a year with George Pierce Baker, the most famous drama teacher of his day. Eventually, he took up residence in Provincetown, Massachusetts, where a group of people dedicated to theater--including the playwright Susan Glaspell--began to put on plays in their living rooms. When their audiences spilled over, the groups created the Provincetown Playhouse, the theater in which many of O'Neill's earliest pieces were first performed.

The subjects of many of O'Neill's plays were not especially appealing to general theater audiences. Those who hoped for light comedy and a good laugh or light melodrama and a good cry found the intensity of his dark vision of the world to be overwhelming. They came for mere entertainment, and he was providing them with frightening visions of the soul's interior. The glum and painful surroundings of Anna Christie (1921) and the brutality of the lower-class coal stoker in The Hairy Ape (1922) were foreign to the comfortable middle-class audiences who supported commercial theater in America. They found O'Neill's characters to be haunted by family agonies, affections never given, ambitions never realized, pains never assuaged. Despite his remarkable abilities and the power of his drama, audiences often did not know what to make of him. To a large extent, his acceptance came on waves of shock, as had the acceptance of the Scandinavian realists.

O'Neill's early work is marked by a variety of experiments with theatrical effects and moods. He tried to use the primary influences of Greek drama in such plays as Desire Under the Elms (1924), which has been described by critics as Greek tragedy, and Mourning Becomes Electra (1931), based on the Oresteia, which took three days to perform. But many of his early plays now seem dated and strange. His most impressive plays are his later work, such as Ah, Wilderness! (1933), The Iceman Cometh (1939), Long Day's Journey into Night (1939-1941), A Moon for the Misbegotten (1943), and A Touch of the Poet (1935-1942), which was performed posthumously in 1957.