Albee Unsure

Edward Albee's Me, Myself and I will stick with you.

by David Anthony Fox

Sometimes I see a new play that impresses me, yet I forget about it soon after. That's not the case with Me, Myself and I, Edward Albee's dark farce about twins, now receiving its world première production at McCarter. Initially, I thought MMI was clever but thin. Yet 48 hours later, I'm still pondering it, inclined now to think there's a lot going on. That's a good thing, surely.

t. charles erickson GOOD IN BED: Tyne Daly and Brian Murray are terrific in the world premi�re of Edward Albee's Me, Myself and I. (CLICK IMAGE FOR LARGER VERSION)

This is Albee at his most Becketian, full of sly games. His fans (and I count myself among them) will recognize a number of themes: issues of identity, a family in crisis, unwelcome visitors. How much more can I say without spoiling the fun — especially since in an open letter to the audience, Albee instructs us to bring no preconceptions with us?

Yet Albee also uncharacteristically invites us to tell him what we've experienced. OK, I'll bite.

Embedded deep in MMI is an homage to Knoxville: Summer of 1915, James Agee's beautiful prose-poem that is itself a reminiscence of boyhood and outsider-ness. Investigation reveals Albee's dazzlingly virtuosic plays on Agee and his images, including puns palindromic and homophonous. Of course, Albee's parry-and-thrust — playful, comic, twisted — is light years away from Agee's sentimental mournfulness.

Or is it? What now has me captivated about MMI is the sense of vulnerability that lies beneath. I see it in part as a compendium of childhood fears. Early on, one of the twins — they're named OTTO and otto, by the way — appears to his mother. "Which one are you?" she asks. "Are you the one that loves me?" (Tyne Daly is simply sensational as the mother, and her personal charm goes a long way to leavening this character.)

But maybe tomorrow — when I'm sure I'll still be thinking about MMI — I'll have a different sense.

And that's all I'm going to tell you. You'll have your own take, of course. I'm certain you'll be dazzled by many elements of both the script and Emily Mann's fine production, which in addition to the marvelous Daly benefits from terrific performances by Brian Murray and in a real coup de theatre, Michael Esper and Colin Donnell as the twins.

Ultimately, I think MMI will be one kind of experience to those who don't know Albee's work (they may enjoy the vaudeville energy, while questioning the "plot") and quite another for his faithful audience (who will eat up the opportunities for close reading). For all I know, Albee will be happier with group one. MMI probably won't become canonical Albee — Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf, A Delicate Balance, even The Goat have a "big play" feeling this one lacks. But it's a piece to see and savor.

(d_fox@citypaper.net)

Me, Myself and I

Through Feb. 17, McCarter Theatre Center, 91 University Place, Princeton, N.J., 609-258-2787, mccarter.org.