“Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?”: fun and games at George and Martha’s

Edward Albee’s 1962 drama, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, is a masterful piece of drama full of the lies and games people use to hide ugly truths from each other. It is arguably the best of Albee’s many plays, its themes and language as raw today as they were then. It has earned its reputation as a classic of 20th Century drama. And it has been given a powerful new production at the Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey at Drew University in Madison. 

Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? is a story of two couples at a late night after-party. Middle-aged George, an associate professor of history at a small New England college, and his slightly older wife Martha have been asked by her father, the college’s president, to make nice with a new couple on campus: Nick, a young biology professor, and his childlike bride Honey.

It’s two in the morning, the main party has broken up, and Martha has invited Nick and Honey to her house, to George’s displeasure. In the course of the booze-fueled night, George and Martha play psychological games with each other, drawing the ambitious Nick and the naive Honey into their destructive fun. Shattering, deeply hidden facts brought to light make truth and fiction hard to determine. None of the four are spared from having ugly realizations aired. At dawn, Nick and Honey are sent home, and George and Martha are left in the ruins of their shared illusions.

The cast, under the sensitive direction of Nisi Sturgis, peel back the layers of their characters’ delusions and desires. No revelation is too shocking, yet each revelation is achingly inevitable. Sympathies shift from character to character as the long night unfolds, with each new bit of information changing our perceptions of what, underneath all the story-telling, is the core truth and what is the convenient cover story.

Andrew Borba’s George is wise in the ways of campus politics and bitter about chances lost and possibilities denied. Antionette LaVecchia, last seen as Serafina in The Rose Tattoo at STNJ, is searing as Martha — boozy, oversexed, frustrated, sharp-tongued, and addicted to one-upmanship. As Nick, who starts off the evening as vague and non-committal, Michael Underhill is quick to flip from blandly innocuous to dangerously ambitious. He learns what’s necessary for his career to succeed and is not averse to using the seductive Martha for his own ends. Abby Burris as Honey comes across as nearly infantile, so much so that one wonders if there is some hidden mental issue there. While she is not on stage as much as the others, her performance is such that when she is visible — even when she’s not speaking, even when she’s ignored by the other characters — you cannot help but notice the presence of Honey in the room.

What struck me was how funny Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? is, especially in the early scenes. Albee is not usually thought of as a comic writer, and yet he tempers the starkness of the latter half of the play with sharp wit. An unusual creative choice in staging the act beginnings and endings helps strengthen the illusion that we are observing one continuous night of excess unfold.

Edward Albee, who won three Pulitzer Prizes for his later work, did not win one for Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? According to contemporary accounts, the Pulitzer Committee was so appalled with Albee’s language and disturbing themes they decided not to award a Pulitzer Prize for Drama that year, a disgraceful abdication of intellectual courage.

Many theatre-goers have heard of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Some have read the play or seen the Elizabeth Taylor-Richard Burton movie. But it seems that few have seen a live production of this phenomenal work. The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey is to be congratulated, not only for choosing this play, but also for mounting such a gripping production. I cannot more strongly encourage you to see this fabulous production of a 20th Century classic of English-speaking drama before its limited engagement ends.

Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? is presented by the Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey at the F.M. Kirby Theatre on the campus of Drew University in Madison through Sept. 27. For more information, or to get tickets, go to shakespearenj.org.