There are so many things to say about the Tony and Pulitzer Prize Award winner, Edward Albee. Brilliant, insightful, witty and genius are just four words that come to mind. Albee just happens to be one of my favorite playwrights.
His most famous play ‘Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolf’ was turned into a film starring Richard Burton and his then wife, Elizabeth Taylor. If you haven’t seen it, go straight to Netflix and order it.
Now back to ‘The Play About The Baby’ directed by Andre Barron. This is a hilarious, disturbing and at times frightening tale, about a young couple, known simply as a Girl (Allison Blaize) and a Boy (Philip Orazio) who, at the beginning of the play, give birth to a Baby. The couple could not be happier. Of course this is Albee and characters in his play seldom remain happy.
Soon after the girl delivers, an older couple, known as Man (the brilliant Sam Anderson) and Woman (the very funny, Taylor Gilbert) enter and inform the young couple that they are here to steal the baby.
They also attempt to convince the Boy and Girl that there was no baby; that it never existed, even though they both remember the birth vividly. If you are wondering what this is all about, well the first thing you need do is forgo logic.
‘The Play About The Baby’ is theatre of the absurd at its best. It’s Albee’s commentary on loss, youth, hope, aging, denial, truth experience and the darkness that is always inside of us…Death.
This is a play that includes mind games and manipulation, that at times had me seating on the edge of my seat and just might make you question your own sense of reality. The audience never knows what to expect next and that is what makes this such an incredible and memorable play that you don’t want to miss.
‘The Play About The Baby’ opened at the Road Theatre Company located in The NoHo Senior Arts Colony, 10747 Magnolia Blvd, in North Hollywood. It opened on Friday, September 16th and has been extended through December 10th.
