In the following essay excerpt, the author explores the themes of death, friendship, family, and their resistance to change in Albee's A Delicate Balance.

Notwithstanding the fact that Edward Albee received the Pulitzer Prize for A Delicate Balance, it still remains, aside from Tiny Alice, his most underrated play. Premiered on September 12, 1966, at the Martin Beck Theatre, its generally mild reception generated immediate controversy over Albee's continuing talent as a first-rate playwright. Martin Gottfried, reviewing for Women's Wear Daily, called the play "two hours of self-indulgence by a self-conscious and self-overrating writer." Robert Brustein, now Dean of the revitalized Yale School of Drama, said the writing was "as far from modern speech as the whistles of a dolphin." Conversely, John Chapman called it "a beautiful play— easily Albee's best and most mature." And Harold Clurman considered it "superior to the more sensational Virginia Woolf."

While the...