THE STORY: Several people sit together reading proverbs aloud to each other. From these proverbs are prompted stories of each one’s past, or musings surrounding lifelong mysteries. Each tries to tell about some incident which they hope will illuminate their own being; hoping the others will understand who they are. Each story flows to the next, with a musical quality to the randomness. Albee explains it this way: “FRAGMENTS lacks plot in any established sense; there is no clear dilemma and resolution—no 'story,' no apparent sequentially. The piece proceeds as a piece of music does—accumulating, accumulating, following its own logic. Its effectiveness, its coherence reside in what we have experienced from the totality of it. FRAGMENTS is also a very simple, straightforward piece—on its own terms, of course."
An abstract look at the emotional existence of people thrown together, and the attempts they make to reach to each other.
“…FRAGMENTS reminds us of Albee’s skill at using language to create drama within drama…Albee’s language once again carves eloquent images…By the end of these fragments, Albee achieves a composite of human experience that touches us.” —TheaterWeek.
“This is a play for audiences who like people on bar stools and poems on cuffs. And can remain amused and detached at their own predestined doom.” —New York Post.
