The Zoo Story

The Zoo Story is a one-act play by Edward Albee (1928-2016) [1].

The original text

Albee's first play, it was written in 1958 in just three weeks, and was originally titled Peter and Jerry. The play offers a brilliant duologue between Jerry, a neurotic outcast, and respectable, bourgeois Peter who meet in Central Park.

Performance history in South Africa

19**: Performed by students of the University of the Witwatersrand School of Dramatic Art in The Nunnery, some time between 1975 and 1983.

197*: Produced for CAPAB by Kaben Kreu Productions, directed by Mavis Taylor, with Keith Grenville (Peter) and John Burch (Jerry).

1978: A production in Grahamstown was directed by Carl de Gouveia, starring Christopher Weare and John Burch.

1983: Directed by Noël Roos for the University of Stellenbosch Drama Department in the Keller Theatre in March 1983, starring Neels Engelbrecht and Robert Finlayson.

1988: A Rhodes University Drama Department production was directed by Simon Jones.

1990: Directed by Willie Fritz for CAPAB, starring Peter Butler and Royston Stoffels, opening 28 June 1990 on the Grahamstown Festival Fringe and 13 July 1990 in Cape Town.

2008-2009: Presented by The Mechanicals, directed by Christopher Weare starring Nicholas Pauling and Scott Sparrow at the Intimate Theatre, Cape Town, October-November 2008. This production was also seen on the National Arts Festival Fringe in 2009.

2015: National Arts Festival.

Sources

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Zoo_Story

Press clipping from Eastern Province Herald, 16 May 1978, held by NELM: [Collection: DICKERSON, Beth]: 2009. 61. 2. 40.

Teaterforum, 4(1), 1983, 113-114.

Theatre pamphlet

The Star 23 June 2009.

Kaben Kreu Productions theatre programme (undated)

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