A Delicate Balance - interview with Edward Albee (Katharine Hepburn, Paul Scofield) 

I saw the movie in the 1980's on cable tv, very late at night in Toronto. I was wowed. I came across the landeau dvd in a Toronto record shop, Sam the Record Man, around 2000. Bought it. Still one of my favourite movies, especially with Albee's commentary. The acting is so good, especially Reid and Scofield. This is so much a more sophisticated and subtle portrait of a similar theme in Waiting for Godot.

As a series of plays filmed for the American public at the time, this is brilliant. However, Albee's "damning" praise of Katharine Hepburn as only playing well "Ms. Hepburn" types was undue. She definitely stamped a signature on certain roles that she did better than others, but had she not been successful in the art of acting, in its truest sense, she would not have had a signature to be remembered.

Paul Scofield. What a voice!

Does anyone know where this interview broadcast? Who the interviewer was? I would like to find the interview in its entirety. Thanks!

Edward Albee: one of the most exacting commentators, let alone playwrights, in the arena of drama. Critically, a sabatier knife......

We can comment here, and the interview is an interesting introduction to " A Delicate Matter", but why does it say, " Comments are disabled for this video" , i.e., for the actual play? The recording is nearby, here on You Tube......

Are these interviews an extra on the dvd?

Kate Reid was the true fulcrum here. I used to not like Scofield's intonations, but now can't imagine anybody else. A balance, indeed.

I think Albee got confused with his character Claire and the actress playing her. The actress didn’t want to dominate the play , her character wanted to be the center of attention. The actress was that good.

Mrs Phyllis Stephens: I can't imagine Hepburn in that role. Just impossible. Jack Warner wanted Bette Davis and James Mason for the 2 leads in "Virginia Woolf". The film company's money men refused - claiming they weren't a big enough box-office draw. I heard this from Albee himself.

While I adore Paul Scofield and feel he does a brilliant job here as Tobias, I am bitter and angry that Jessica Tandy, who created the role of Agnes on Broadway, was not cast in the film. This is the second time that Tandy was cheated; the first was when the role of Blanche duBois, another character she created onstage, went to Vivien Leigh for the film. Tandy's Agnes would have had all the dimensionality and depth that Hepburn's rendition lacked. Unfortunately, casting Tandy as Agnes would have meant casting Hume Cronyn (who had also created his role) as Tobias, and thus losing Scofield's magnificent performance. What God gives with one hand, He takes away with the other...