I have a wonderful and amazing person in my life who has gifted me with Volume 3 of The Complete Works of Edward Albee. I'll be reviewing a lot of his plays as a result. I am filled with nothing but joy at the thought of this.
The first play in the anthology is... Eh...
"Lolita"
by Edward Albee
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| I couldn't find the cover for the play version... |
I had only heard of the book back in my college days, so when I found that the first play in this anthology was based off the book, I had mixed feelings. If perhaps you haven't heard of the book, let me give you a brief glib of the only thing I knew about it going in:It's about a pedophile.
I'm not the kind to shy away from shady or disturbing subject matter. Sometimes I embrace it (perhaps more often than I should). But this was going to be an exception. Murder? Sex? Drugs? Gangs? Psh, kids stuff. But this was gonna be... Weird. I braced myself for the worst at first, but then I remembered that this is a book read and studied by hundreds and is embraced as a classic in literature. Ok, I thought to myself, then it must have something else going for it besides a guy doing unspeakable things to a little girl the whole time.
To my relief, yes, there was more to it than that.
Humbert Humbert is a man who has been struggling with pedophilia for most of his life. His first love was at the age of 12, and since then he hasn't been able to break himself from lusting after anyone who isn't 12. A French professor, he is looking for a place to live whil he teaches at the university when he finds the house of a desperate widow and her child, Lolita. He falls instantly and uncontrollably in love/lust with her.
As he tells the audience what he wants to do to her - what he swears, indeed, he will do to her - waves of awkward and uncomfortable can and will sweep through readers and viewers. And this is where the "author" character (named in the script as A Certain Gentleman, or ACG) plays such an important part. He is our link, but he relates to our feelings. He calls Humbert a sick, sad and disturbing man. We feel a little more comfortable with him on stage expressing our outrage.
Humbert's quest to win Lolita is a story filled with anger, revenge, murder, lust, and pity. He truely is a sick and disturbed man, yet a man who seems frightfully intelligent, articulate, and sharp. He is aware just as we are aware that his desires are disordered, but he will not admit that his love is anything but pure. From the moment he is first seen to the moment his part is completed, a sick sense of fascination and pity swept over me, and although he is a rare breed, his character had much to say and teach about the human condition.
The play version of this story takes on a new life (I would imagine) than the book. Most characters interact with the audience, some for long lengths of time. The forth wall is continally broken if non-existent, making the audience always aware that this is just a play and not something trying to imitate real life as in a straight realism play. This method of playwrighting and production is intentionally done so that the audience tries to pay more attention to the message of the play rather than it's production as a realistic and imitative-to-life piece. This play would've been infinitely uncomfortable if it had tried to play itself as realism.
Overall, I did enjoy it. Albee is a tremendous playwright and his characters are all stunningly vibrant and infintely interesting to imagine. If I ever get the pleasure of acting in one of his plays some day, I might just die a very, very happy man. My overall recommendation is that this play is not for the weak of heart, but rather a play for someone looking to challenge themselves in their reading. And trust me, you will be challenged.
Sincerely,
Corbs
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