In Act One, a young lawyer, "C," has been sent to the home of a client, a ninety-two-year-old woman, "A," to sort out her finances. "A," frail, perhaps a bit senile, resists and is of no help to "C." Along with "B," the old woman's matronly paid companion/caretaker, "C" tries to convince "A" that she must concentrate on the matters at hand. In "A's" beautifully appointed bedroom, she prods, discusses and bickers with "B" and "C," her captives. "A's" long life is laid out for display, no holds barred. She cascades from regal and charming to vicious and wretched as she wonders about and remembers her life: her husband and their cold, passionless marriage; her son and their estrangement. How did she become this? Who is she? Finally, when recounting her most painful memory, she suffers a stroke. In Act Two, "A's" comatose body lies in bed as "B" and "C" observe no changes in her condition. In a startling coup-de-theatre, "A" enters, very much alive and quite lucid. The three women are now the stages of "A's" life: the imperious old woman, the regal matron and the young woman of twenty-six. Her life, memories and reminiscencespondered in the first actare now unceremoniously examined, questioned, accepted or not, but, at last, understood. In the end, her son arrives and kneels at her bedside, but it is too late.
Winner of the 1994 Pulitzer Prize. This engaging examination of the life of one woman is one of the biggest hits of the season. "One of America's finest playwrights. Edward Albee offers a new play so good it can only exist on the stage. A perfect illustration of why theater is an indispensable art." NY Times. "An extraordinarily brilliant new play. THREE TALL WOMEN is the best, most forceful play [Albee] has given usTo be truthful about death is admirable, but to be elegant at the same time is almost Mozartian." NY Post. "Beautiful and enduring. THREE TALL WOMEN has earned Albee his third, and most deserved, Pulitzer Prize." The New Yorker. "A dazzlerWorthy of mention in the same breath as Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and A Delicate Balance. THREE TALL WOMEN blazes as bright as a midsummer day. Electrifying and heartrending, each of Albee's women is memorable" Wall Street Journal.