It would not be far wrong to think THE ZOO STORY is the play the 29 year-old Edward Albee wrote instead of committing suicide. At 29 he had reached the end of his tether, for as an orphan adopted by a rich and famous family he had left this rich family and their homes for good and by mutual agreement at 20. He had been writing short stories, plays and poems since grade school but THE ZOO STORY was the first time that instinct, talent and opportunity all came together in a successful attempt to make his distinctive voice heard. At the time of the writing of THE ZOO STORY he had been scraping a living delivering Western Union Telegrams. The humiliations of poverty and the marginalization of his gay life combined his acute observation, his upbringing as little ‘Richie Rich’, his precise use of language and his searing wit together into a cri de coeur of a play.
The setting is Central Park, New York City in the late 1950’s-a different century, a different universe. It was a time and place when two white male strangers could conceivably meet, fall into conversation-even argument- safely without a thought of criminal intent. The play though still resonates powerfully as a protest against the coldness, materialism, and lovelessness of contemporary American life.
Peter Kingsley & Danilo Ottaviani
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