美国国家公共电台 NPR Playwright Edward Albee's Incomplete Works May Never See The Light Of Day

 

ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST:

Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright¹ Edward Albee has been in the news lately even though he died 10 months ago. His estate has turned down a multiracial production of "Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf?" It has put his contemporary art collection up for auction² for an estimated $9 million. And today The New York Times reports his unpublished works may never see the light of day. Here's Jeff Lunden.

JEFF LUNDEN, BYLINE³: The clause in Edward Albee's will is pretty clear. Quote, "if at the time of my death I shall leave any incomplete manuscripts, I hereby direct to my executors to destroy such incomplete manuscripts." Albee's estate wouldn't comment on whether they've followed his orders, but the directive is very much in character.

EMILY MANN: You know, I'm not in the least bit surprised.

LUNDEN: Emily Mann is the artistic⁴ director of Princeton, N.J.'s, McCarter Theatre. She worked with Edward Albee on several plays.

MANN: He wanted to have authority over everything of his that was on the stage.

LUNDEN: Mann says that meant the casting, the props⁵, even the color of the set. The playwright was so exacting⁶ that when actress Rosemary Harris was rehearsing one of his plays...

MANN: He wrote me a note on one of Rosemary's lines which was, I didn't hear the comma.

LUNDEN: And Mann says that when they worked on a new play, Albee pretty much kept his writing a secret. There were never any readings or workshops, just a final draft. It's something the playwright told me in 2008.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED BROADCAST)

EDWARD ALBEE: I don't think a play should go in rehearsal⁷ until it's ready to open.

LUNDEN: And that's where the unpublished manuscripts come into play. Albee's last work was called "Laying An Egg." It was supposed to open off-Broadway but was postponed⁸ twice because the author said it wasn't ready. What's in it? Now we may never know.

DAVID CRESPY: Now, I can say to that it's a very disappointing decision.

LUNDEN: David Crespy is president of the Edward Albee Society, which promotes scholarship on the playwright's work.

CRESPY: It's kind of a way of shutting us out of Edward's creative process, which, by the way, he wanted to shut us out of his creative process (laughter).

LUNDEN: But other estates have chosen to ignore authors' wishes. Franz Kafka asked for his work to be burned. It wasn't. "A Long Day's Journey Into Night" was staged shortly after Eugene O'Neill's death even though he asked for a 25-year waiting period. Theatrical⁹ lawyer David Friedlander says this might be a loss for future scholarship on Edward Albee, but the estate is well within its rights.

DAVID FRIEDLANDER: I think that should be respected. You know, authors, when they're working on drafts of things, they might write things that are poorly written, for one, ideas and concepts that are incomplete or characters that are incomplete. Or they may write things that are, you know, sexist or racist¹⁰ or politically, you know, charged that they may or may not really believe. But the artist I think has the absolute right to determine what gets disclosed.

LUNDEN: And when I asked Albee back in 2008 what he was working on, he gave me a sly smile and not much else.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED BROADCAST)

LUNDEN: I understand you have another play in mind at the moment.

ALBEE: One is emerging, yes, yes.

LUNDEN: (Laughter) And I understand that it's called "Silence."

ALBEE: It's called "Silence," yes, yes. That's all I will tell you at the moment about it.

LUNDEN: For NPR News, I'm Jeff Lunden in New York.

(SOUNDBITE OF EL TEN ELEVEN'S "MY ONLY SWERVING")

1 playwright   

n.剧作家，编写剧本的人

参考例句：

• Gwyn Thomas was a famous playwright.格温·托马斯是著名的剧作家。
• The playwright was slaughtered by the press.这位剧作家受到新闻界的无情批判。

2 auction   

n.拍卖；拍卖会；vt.拍卖

参考例句：

• They've put the contents of their house up for auction.他们把房子里的东西全都拿去拍卖了。
• They bought a new minibus with the proceeds from the auction.他们用拍卖得来的钱买了一辆新面包车。

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 artistic   

adj.艺术(家)的，美术(家)的；善于艺术创作的

参考例句：

• The picture on this screen is a good artistic work.这屏风上的画是件很好的艺术品。
• These artistic handicrafts are very popular with foreign friends.外国朋友很喜欢这些美术工艺品。

5 props   

小道具； 支柱( prop的名词复数 )； 支持者； 道具； （橄榄球中的）支柱前锋

参考例句：

• Rescuers used props to stop the roof of the tunnel collapsing. 救援人员用支柱防止隧道顶塌陷。
• The government props up the prices of farm products to support farmers' incomes. 政府保持农产品价格不变以保障农民们的收入。

6 exacting   

adj.苛求的，要求严格的

参考例句：

• He must remember the letters and symbols with exacting precision.他必须以严格的精度记住每个字母和符号。
• The public has been more exacting in its demands as time has passed.随着时间的推移，公众的要求更趋严格。

7 rehearsal   

n.排练，排演；练习

参考例句：

• I want to play you a recording of the rehearsal.我想给你放一下彩排的录像。
• You can sharpen your skills with rehearsal.排练可以让技巧更加纯熟。

8 postponed   

vt.& vi.延期，缓办，（使）延迟vt.把…放在次要地位；[语]把…放在后面（或句尾）vi.（疟疾等）延缓发作（或复发）

参考例句：

• The trial was postponed indefinitely. 审讯无限期延迟。
• The game has already been postponed three times. 这场比赛已经三度延期了。

9 theatrical   

adj.剧场的，演戏的；做戏似的，做作的

参考例句：

• The final scene was dismayingly lacking in theatrical effect.最后一场缺乏戏剧效果，叫人失望。
• She always makes some theatrical gesture.她老在做些夸张的手势。

10 racist   

n.种族主义者，种族主义分子

参考例句：

• a series of racist attacks 一连串的种族袭击行为
• His speech presented racist ideas under the guise of nationalism. 他的讲话以民族主义为幌子宣扬种族主义思想。