A

A is the "tall woman" of the play's title. As the elder version of B and C, A is an intriguing blend of contradictions. In the first act, while she is being cared for by B and C, she is alternately childish and dignified, panic-stricken and stoic.

A's narrative is punctuated by crude, bigoted comments. The Italian man her sister married was "a wop." The domestic servants she knew as a girl "knew their place; they were polite, and well-behaved; none of those uppity niggers, the city ones."

A's intolerance has proven especially harmful in her relationship with her homosexual son. She found his lifestyle and sexual preferences abhorrent, and he left home because of her attitude. For twenty years they did not see one another, and she ultimately regrets it.

In the second act, Albee provides sympathetic glimpses of A. As she watches herself dying, she interacts...