劇本作家介紹-Edward Albee

Born on March 12, 1928 in Virginia, Edward Franklin Albee III

was adopted two weeks later by Reed A.

Albee, an influential theater owner in Broadway. Therefore,

Edward was brought to the world of theater at his young age.

However, after the tortuous course of studying, he left his final

school, Trinity College, in 1947.

Later Edward also left home for good because of his adoptive

parents' opposition to his aspiration to become a writer, and he

spent 10 years in New York having various jobs to gain different

kinds of experiences for the dramas in the future.

In 1958, Edward’s first creation, The Zoo Story, was completed

in only three weeks. Initially, it was rejected by New York City

producers. In the end, it was put on performance in West Berlin

in 1959 and let Edward begin to make a name for himself.

Edward’s other important works include The Sandbox (1959),

The American Dream (1960) and Who's Afraid of Virginia

Woolf? (1962). Moreover, he has received three Pulitzer Prizes

with A Delicate Balance (1968), Seascape (1975), and Three

Tall Women (1991).

Edward's early plays are characterized by a mastery and

Americanization of the Theater of Theatre of the Absurd.

Edward is also appreciated with daring mix of theatricalism and

biting dialogue with helping to reinvent the post-war

theatre in the early 1960s.

Through his later production The Goat: or, Who Is Sylvia? (2000),

Edward has distinguished himself from other contemporary

American playwrights.

一九二八年三月二十日，愛德華‧法蘭克林‧阿爾比三世出生於

美國的維吉尼亞州，但在兩個星期後，他就被養父里德‧阿爾比

所收養，由於其養父在百老匯是相當具有影響力的劇院主人，愛

德華從小就受到戲劇的薰陶。然而在經歷了求學上的種種風波之

後，他終於在一九四七年結束了他在倫敦聖三一學院的學業，之

後他更因為父母對反對他成為作家而離家出走，到了紐約、並從

事了各式各樣的工作，這些經驗的累積都有助於他在未來戲劇作

品的創作。愛德華的第一部作品是只花了三個星期、完成於一九

五八年的《動物園的事》，本劇在甫完成之初、並未獲得紐約劇

院的青睞，隔年才終於在西柏林成功登台，並讓他開始嶄露頭角

。愛德華其他重要的作品還有《沙箱》（一九五九）、《美國夢

》（一九六Ｏ）以及《誰怕吳爾芙？》（一九六二，後改編為電

影《靈慾春宵》），之後他更以《脆弱的平衡》（一九六八）、

《海角》（一九七五）與《三個說大話的女人》（一九九一）等

三度勇奪普立茲獎。愛德華早期的作品展現一種熟練而美國化的

荒誕劇場形式，他也以其對舞台作風的大膽融合與辛辣的台詞見

長，並開創了一九六Ｏ年代早期的戰後美國戲劇風格。愛德華後

期的作品《山羊或誰是蘇維亞？》（二ＯＯＯ）更凸顯了其在同

期美國劇作家中的獨樹一格。

資料來源：
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Albee
http://blog.yam.com/mktheatre/archives/1331126.html

翻譯：傅昶順