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Photo credit: Alabastro Photography
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As a Big Fan of the movie, 'Who's afraid of Virginia Woolf?' starring Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor, I was so looking forward of seeing this Edward Albee classic at Seattle Rep this past weekend. However it was HARD to accept anyone else in the roles of George and Martha beside Taylor and Burton. By end of Act 2 they had me, but this groundbreaking play is over 50 years old and it also shows its age.
C'mon, you know the story when George (R. Hamilton Wright) and Martha (Pamela Reed) engage in dangerous emotional games. George is an associate professor of history and Martha is the daughter of the president of the college. Martha is already quite drunk and mentions she invited a young couple over for a night of Games. George is not in the mood, but Martha won't back down. The guests arrive – Nick (the Dashing, Aaron Blakey), a biology professor and his wife, Honey (Amy Hill). Now they are certainly not George Segal or the Oscar winning, Sandy Dennis, but they handle the material quite well.
In Act 2, George suggests a new game called "Get the Guests". George insults and mocks Honey about her "hysterical pregnancy". The implication is that she trapped Nick into marrying her because of a false pregnancy. She feels sick and runs to the bathroom again.
At the end of this scene, Martha starts to act seductively towards Nick in George's presence. George pretends to react calmly, reading a book. As Martha and Nick walk upstairs, George throws his book against the door. Does George really care or is it about his bruised ego of competing with the young man? George comes back with all he's got.
In Act 3, Martha appears alone in the living room, shouting at the others to come out from hiding, 'Hey! Hey!!". Nick joins her. Martha brings up to Nick that their encounter was a 'Flop'!
The doorbell rings: it is George, with a bunch of flowers in his hand, The director, Braden Abraham, curiously chose real over artificial flowers, that when thrown individually, create an odor that caused a few allergic reactions from the audience. I wrote about this last year when SRT's American Buffalo had 2 actors smoke at the same time and the theater reeked of cigarette smoke. Perhaps Artificial or odorless flowers would have been a better choice.
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Photo credit: Alabastro Photography
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At the end of the play, George informs Martha that a messenger from Western Union arrived at the door earlier with a telegram saying their son was "killed late in the afternoon...on a country road, with his learner's permit in his pocket" and that he "swerved, to avoid a porcupine". The description matches that of the boy in the gin-mill story told earlier. Martha screams, "You can't do that!" and collapses.
It becomes clear to the guests that George and Martha's son is a fiction. George has decided to "kill" him because Martha broke their rule of never speaking of him to others. Nick and Honey leave, realizing that the cause of their hosts' shameless antics was their inability to conceive. The play ends with George singing, "Who's afraid of Virginia Woolf?" to Martha, whereupon she replies, "I am, George...I am."
As I first mentioned the play is a little out dated, because in today's modern world George and Martha would have divorced or killed each other due to their LOVE/HATE chemistry. But when you actually see the finished you wonder if this was designed to be group Marriage counseling with a therapist. Perhaps George is the therapist because he is in control and is able to get through to everyone. Of course you have to judge for yourself if the 'Fun and Games' were worth it.
"Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" performs at the Seattle Rep through May 18th. For tickets or information contact the Seattle Rep box office at 206-443-2222 or visit them online at www.seattlerep.org.
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