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Each of the main playwrights of the movement seemed to have developed independently of the other. To begin, even though the movement known as the Theater of the Absurd was not a consciously conceived movement, and it has never had any clear cut philosophical doctrines, no organized attempt to win converts, and no meetings, it has characteristics which set it apart from other experiments in drama.
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In addition to a knowledge of Albee's own early plays, an understanding of the entire movement of the Theater of the Absurd and the relationship of Albee's early plays to that movement will, in part, illuminate aspects of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
#THEME OF THE SANDBOX BY EDWARD ALBEE FULL#
Consequently, in its simplest terms, Albee's early short dramas are essential studies to Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? his first full length drama.
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Also, his early plays - The Zoo Story, The American Dream, and Sand Box - which will be discussed later, do belong rather directly with the Absurdist movement and they employ most of the themes, motifs, ideas, and techniques found in the plays of "The Theater of the Absurd." Furthermore, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? also utilizes many of the techniques and ideas of his earlier plays - for example, the lost or non-existent child is a constant factor in many of Albee's plays of all periods. Even though Albee's Who's Afraid of' Virginia Woolf would not be strictly classified as belonging to the movement known as "The Theater of the Absurd," there are, however, a great many elements of this play which are closely aligned with or which grew out of the dramas which are classified as being a part of "The Theater of the Absurd." Furthermore, the movement emerged on the literary scene just prior to and during the beginning of Albee's formative, creative years.