The Sandbox

Introduction

The Sandbox introduces three characters who also appear in The American Dream: an emasculated Daddy, a cruel, aggressive Mommy, and a morally honest Grandma. Albee stopped working on Dream to write The Sandbox for Spoleto, and then returned to the longer play a few months later. The Sandbox encapsulates such familiar Albee targets as anti-Momism, hollow rituals, failure to communicate, sterile couple hood, complacency, and hypocrisy. On a brightly lit stage, Mommy and Daddy, presenile and vacuous, deposit Grandma in a child's sandbox to die, and bring in a musician to play a dirge-like flute composition written by Albee's mentor/partner ...