Edward Albee’s At Home At the Zoo

Originally titled Peter & Jerry, At Home at the Zoo combines Albee’s classic short play The Zoo Story (1959) with its prequel, Homelife (2004). Together these short plays form a complete story of Peter, a publishing executive; Ann, his wife; and Jerry, a stranger Peter meets in the park.

 

The play begins with Homelife, and offers a revealing look at Peter and Ann’s rocky marriage, their brutal attempts to communicate, and the loneliness within their shared life. The tension escalates in the next act, The Zoo Story. While reading on a Central Park bench, a stranger walks up to Peter and declares that he has “been to the zoo!” The man, Jerry, begins to tell tale after tale, probe deep into Peter’s life, and attempt to take the bench for himself.