Edward Albee's "Peter and Jerry"
Watched the play at Second Stage Theater last Tuesday. The play has two acts. Act Two: The Zoo Story was written in 1958, while Act One: Homelife recently fell from Albee's mind on the page...intact, as he wrote in the playbill. The Zoo Story, mostly a melancholic and menacing monologue spoken by down-and-out Jerry to Peter, was much more engaging than Homelife, mostly unconvincing banter between Peter and wife Ann about their dangerously safe marriage. The role of Jerry was written from inside out; Ann was observed from the outside. Peter, for whose sake the first act was written in order to flesh out his character, remains a cipher. Johanna Day played Ann, Bill Pullman Peter, and Dallas Roberts a magnetic Jerry. It was directed by Pam MacKinnon.
Comments
I could have fallen asleep at certain points in Act One; Act Two kept me wide awake. Best of luck for your paper. It must detract somewhat from a nice evening out, when you know it's for a school paper.