Az Eszterházy Károly Tanárképző Főiskola Tudományos Közleményei. 2002. Vol. 8. Eger Journal of American Studies.(Acta Academiae Paedagogicae Agriensis : Nova series ; Tom. 28)
Studies - Réka Cristian: Edward Albee's Castings
to discipline Grandma and to make her afraid if she proved too annoying for the couple. The reality of the van man's existence is reinforced by Mrs. Barker from the Bye-Bye Adoption Service, when the family does not want to accept that he is real. As an excellent opportunist, Mrs. Barker posits this van man as the guaranteesubstitute for the wrong child, whom the parents destroyed. Mrs. Barker: The van man. The van man was here... Mommy [near tears]: No, no that's impossible. No. There's no such thing as the van man. There is no van man. We... we made him up. 5 6 When The Young Man appears in the home of the couple, he seems very familiar to Mommy and Daddy. He strikingly resembles the blindspot-child of the drama. Mommy says he is "more like it", "a great more deal like it"(emphasis mine ) is the dead child, which did not even have a name. The lack of onomastics is caught in the dialogue of the parents and Mrs. Barker: Mrs. Barker:... Call him whatever you like. He's yours. Call him what you called the other one. Mommy: Daddy? What did we call the other one? Daddy [puzzles ] Why ,.. 5 7 Grandma is an old, "obscene" person. She is busy packing boxes for her alleged departure from home. She knows "what she says", as Daddy claims and she knows the twisted way of the shaken family romance. She does not complain she rather focuses on her exit from the imposed home, where she invites The Young Man and, in a witty manner, presents him as the van man that has come to take her away. Grandma in The American Dream and in the Sandbox is the sole human and generous character in the Albee ménage of characters. The model for the character of Grandma was Edward Albee's maternal Grandma Cotter, who was the closest to the playwright in his family and who was "an outlaw" as Edward. As the Young Man and Grandma in this play, Edward and Grandma Cotter formed in the home of the Albees, an alliance against the world, especially against Edward Albee The American Dream. In New American Drama (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1966), 58. 5 7 Edward Albee The American Dream. In New American Drama (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1966), 59. 158
