Edward Albee's works rank among the finest in the contemporary American theater. A recurring theme in Albee's plays—such as The Zoo Story, The Sandbox, The American Dream, and Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?—is the problem of human communication in a world that has become increasingly callous. These plays synthesize the elements of realism and the Theater of the Absurd—a term coined by Martin Esslin, to refer to a specific type of plays, which became popular duringthe 1950s and 1960sand which, in Esslin's view, gave artistic expression to French Philosopher Albert Camus's philosophy as expounded in his 1942 essay, "The Myth of Sisyphus." Though Albee belongs to the Theater of the Absurd, he does not follow all the codes/rules of this movement. This article attempts a critical analysis of Edward Albee's early one-act play, The Sandbox, which in many ways anticipates the dysfunctional families that surface in The American Dream, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? And A Delicate Balance. The article also includes a brief comparative analysis of The Sandbox and The American Dream.

Although Edward Albee's plays, The Zoo Story, The Sandbox, and The American Dream, are classified as absurd plays, yet, if one compares them with the work of Beckett, Ionesco or Pinter, they fall short of the full implications of the absurd after a certain point. Albee still places his faith in reason, that things can be proved, or that events can be shown to have definite meanings. Unlike Beckett and others, he believes that one is not living in an absurd universe altogether. There is a sense of compromise in his plays between absurdity and reason, a compromise that suggests a failure of nerve to go the whole hog. It may not be far from the truth to say that he is more interested in the technique of the Theater of the Absurd rather than its philosophy. He is using the technique because it serves his purpose, and he stops short of accepting the metaphysics of the absurd. Although the world he portrays is a world without love, joy and meaning, yet, in the final analysis, there is a ray of hope.

The Sandbox, Albee's second one-act play was well-received, and since its first performance, it has been frequently revived, partly because of its relative ease and low cost of production, and partly because of its enduring merit as a work of art. The shortest of Albee's one-act plays, The Sandbox, which blends symbolism with realism, is a theatrical gem. To a query on how long a play should be, Albee answered, "I don't care whether a play is fifteen minutes or twelve hours long, as long as it is satisfying and it is written to its correct length."

Edward Albee's The Sandbox, Dysfunctional Family, The Myth of Sisyphus, Albert Camus's Philosophy, MetaPhysics, HypoCrisy, The American Dream, Tennessee Williams, Spiritual Enlightenment, South Carolina Press, Dylan Thomas.