Urban socialites Agnes and Tobias appear to inhabit a glamorous world of drinks parties and social clubs. The return home of their recently divorced daughter, the constant presence of Agnes’ alcoholic sister and the impromptu late-night arrival of some close friends, begin to peel away this veneer.

As their lives become increasingly claustrophobic, the characters battle with their fear of stepping into the real world, opting instead for the undemanding familiarity of their own drawing room.

Laced with acerbic wit, A Delicate Balance won Edward Albee his first Pulitzer Prize and followed the success of his breakthrough work Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? One of the great American plays of the 20th Century, this is the fourth of Albee’s dramas at the Almeida after Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1996), The Play About the Baby (1998) and The Goat, or Who is Sylvia (2004).