If the work of art is good enough, it must not be criticized for its theme. I don't think it can be argued.
Edward AlbeeGeorge, who is out somewhere there in the dark, who is good to me - whom I revile, who can keep learning the games we play as quickly as I can change them. Who can make me happy and I do not wish to be happy. And yes, I do wish to be happy. George and Martha: Sad, sad, sad. Whom I will not forgive for having come to rest; for having seen me and having said: โYes, this will doโ. Who has made the hideous, the hurting, the insulting mistake of lovingโฆ me, and must be punished for it. George and Marthaโฆ Sad, sad, sad.
Edward AlbeeAbout four years ago I made a list, for my own amusement, of the playwrights, the contemporary playwrights, by whom critics said I'd been influenced. I listed twenty-five. It included five playwrights whose work I didn't know, so I read these five playwrights and indeed now I suppose I can say I have been influenced by them. The problem is that the people who write these articles find the inevitable similarities of people writing in the same generation, in the same century, and on the same planet, and they put them together in a group.
Edward AlbeeThe final evaluation of a play has nothing to do with immediate audience or critical response.
Edward AlbeeThere are two things that a playwright can have. Success or failure. I imagine there are dangers in both. Certainly the danger of being faced with indifference or hostility is discouraging, and it may be that success - acceptance if it's too quick, too lightning-quick - can turn the heads of some people.
Edward Albee