In an evening freely adapted by Nagle Jackson from “Marlowe, Goethe, Moliere, et al,” seven contemporary writers contributed a Deadly Sins section to a vaudeville-like review called Faustus in Hell. The choicest sin was committed to Albee, who undertook the subject of writer’s “Envy.” In a light-hearted send-up of authorial aspirations, his speaker covets the ability to “know one’s own limits and aim a little lower.”

Albee’s Envy appeared as the fifth short play in The Show Of The Seven Deadly Sins. The complete list of short plays included Greed, Gluttony, Wrath, Pride, Envy, Sloth, and Lechery.

Faustus in Hell, adapted and directed by Nagle Jackson; based on the works of Marlowe, Goethe, Moliere, et al, with The Show Of The Seven Deadly Sins by Edward Albee (Envy), Christopher Durang (Sloth), Amlin Gray (Greed), John Guare (Gluttony), Romulus Linney (Wrath), Joyce Carol Oates (Lechery), and Jean-Claude van Itallie (Pride).

Synopsis adapted from Edward Albee: A Research and Production Sourcebook by Barbara Lee Horn and an article by Mel Gussow that appeared in The New York Times.

Horn, Barbara Lee. Edward Albee: A Research and Production Sourcebook. Westport: Praeger Pub, 2003.

Gussow, Mel. “Stage: A New Look at 7 Deadly Sins.” New York Times 3 Feb. 1985. 16 March 2014 <http://www.nytimes.com/1985/02/03/theater/stage-a-new-look-at-7-deadly-sins.html>.

Type: Short Play

Acts: One

First Performance: 23 January 1985, McCarter Theater, Princeton, NJ