A Delicate Balance

Although generally regarded as an important playwright, Edward Albee has not enjoyed universal approval and great commercial success with the one exception of the smash-hit 'Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf'. His themes, as exemplified in 'Tiny Alice' or 'Sylvia: or the Goat' are generally too unusual, obscure or downright weird to have mass appeal.

In 'A Delicate Balance' a comfortable New England household, albeit with alcoholic sister-in-law and daughter with four failed marriages, is disrupted by the arrival of friends of 40 years, a couple fleeing a nameless terror in their own home, and who announce their intention of staying. In true Albee fashion none of the issues raised are actually resolved: we never learn what is the cause of the couple's nameless terror, or indeed what will happen to them, what are the consequences of Agnes' premonitions of madness, what happened to the son they lost, Claire's dipsomania or Julia's failed marriages. The extraordinary events do however lead to a radical re-appraisal by Agnes and Tobias of their hitherto comfortable lives.

The atmosphere of mystery and existential dread really needs the immediacy of actual theatrical performance rather than the matter-of-fact regard of the cinematic lens, but having said that, it is difficult to imagine a filmed version being done better than it is here. Certainly one can hardly hope for better credits: directed by Tony Richardson (Albee had originally asked for Ingmar Bergman!) with a peerless cast headed by Hepburn and Scofield - fascinating to see such great talents playing together - Lee Remick ( and what a beautiful actress she was!) as Julia, and even the two minor characters of the long-time friends played by luminaries such as Joseph Cotten and Betsy Blair. The alcoholic Claire was to have been played by the great American actress Kim Stanley who was replaced (apparently on Hepburn's insistence) and is now played by the Canadian Kate Reid who had alternated with Uta Hagen as Martha in 'Virginia Woolf' on Broadway. She attacks the role like someone starving presented with prime steak.

If one has any quibbles it is that Katherine Hepburn is perhaps too individualistic an actress to encompass the ordinary side of Agnes, and Paul Scofield is somewhat less than comfortable with his very difficult speech in the last act which demands an American temperament, basically foreign to his style. These however, are minor reservations, in other respects the production is impeccable.

Extras include interviews with Albee, Betsy Blair, and the cinematographer.