Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf REVIEW 18 Nov 2023 ****

THEATRE

Written by Edward Albee

By Red Stitch

At Red Stitch Theatre, St. Kilda, until 17 December 2023

Reviewer: Kate Herbert

Stars: **** (4)

This review is published only on this blog. I’ll present a radio review on Arts Weekly on 3MBS on Sat 25 Nov 2023. KH

 

Kat Stewart, Emily Goddard, Harvey Zielinski, David Whiteley-image by Jodie Hutchinson

Edward Albee’s play is a brutal examination – or rather, dissection – of the dysfunctional and volatile marriage of George (David Whiteley) and Martha (Kat Stewart), a bitter, frustrated and hard-drinking middle-aged couple.

 

The play is set in the couple’s home (designer, Harriet Oxley) after a college faculty party hosted by Martha’s father, the college president. Late that night, the hunky new and young biology lecturer, Nick (Harvey Zielinski), and his mousey wife, Honey (Emily Goddard), visit George and Martha for a few tipples. Little do they know what is to come.

 

46-year-old George, a lecturer in the history department, is deeply embittered that he has hit a ceiling on the ladder to seniority and he blames Martha’s father for stymieing his academic rise. Martha, who is six years older than George, resents his failure and punishes him at every turn for disappointing her and ruining her ambitions.

 

George, Martha and their two unwitting guests continue to drink hard liquor into the wee hours. What could go wrong?

 

Over this harrowing night, the petty bickering and verbal sparring, routine humiliation, point-scoring and bizarre psychological games that George and Martha play begin to affect and infect Nick and Honey. George and Martha are patients zero in an awful, viral contagion. Their alcohol fuelled brawling and scrapping morphs into Martha’s boozy seduction of Nick and, finally, it reveals their shared despair. By the end, we witness the shreds of a fragile bond that keeps George and Martha clinging to each other.

 

The pair take no prisoners, except for Nick and Honey who, in the face of such vitriol, seem incapable of leaving. Why? we might ask. Why not just get up and go? But where’s the drama in that?

 

With taut direction by Sarah Goodes, each of this talented cast gives detailed, nuanced and compelling performances and feast on Albee’s gritty and challenging characters and dialogue. In the intimate, Red Stitch space, we are so close to the actors that we are almost sitting in their laps; we can smell their boozy breath and sip their bourbon.

 

This is a production worth seeing, particularly if you’ve never seen Albee’s scarifying, masterly drama on film or stage.

 

Cast

Emily Goddard

Kat Stewart

David Whiteley

Harvey Zielinski

Damon Baudin (Understudy)

 

Writer: Edward Albee

Director: Sarah Goodes

Set & Costume Design: Harriet Oxley

Lighting Design: Jason Ng Junjie
Sound Design & Composition: Grace Ferguson & Ethan Hunter

Asst. Director: Keegan Bragg

Set & Costume Design Asst.: Natalie Petrellis

Stage Manager: Kelly Wilson

Asst. Stage Manager: Georgina Bright