Compass Theater's production of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf, Edward Albee's drama of domestic power struggle as metaphor for the dark underbelly of the American dream is a must-see theatrical experience. Brilliantly acted and directed, this lengthy and intense play is worth every mesmerizing second of your time and attention. Indeed, it would be impossible not to pay attention to characters so demanding, compelling, and skillfully brought to life.
Shana Wride, a twenty-year veteran actor and director working primarily on the West Coast, directs this production and succeeds in bringing out wonderful performances by her four actors. This is her first collaboration with Compass, and we hope it is the first of many. She is ably assisted by Jamie Lloyd.
Adam Lindsay created a set that absolutely evokes the period and lifestyle of the inhabitants of the house. Mitchell Simkovski's lighting is subtle and effective. Costume designer Lisa Burgess subtly defines the characters by their wardrobes.
The story takes place over several hours in the home of George and Martha. Following a faculty party at the small New England college where George (Dale Morris) is an associate history professor and his disappointed wife, Martha (Glynn Bedington), is the daughter of the president of the college, an impetuous invitation by Martha to the handsome new biology professor Nick (Tyler Herdklotz) and his mousy wife, Honey (Kelly Iversen), to come over for drinks at 2:00 in the morning leads these unsuspecting young people into the most uncomfortable and alarming social encounter imaginable.
Nick and Honey are about to descend into the toxic hell that is the married life of George and Martha. She is a loud and shrewish harridan who apparently spends every available moment screaming at her husband about what a failure and a disappointment he is. He is meek and subservient one moment, switching quickly to violent attack dog to join in what he refers to as a game namely their endless rounds of abuse and debasement.
George and Martha are drunk when they get home from the first party and continue drinking non-stop for the rest of the night with their guests. They barely pause from drinking to draw breath except to hurl insults and accusations at one another, or to lure the two newcomers into their web of fantasy and illusion, exposing the lies at the heart of the marriage of Nick and Honey in the process. They are not satisfied with hurting each other and exercise their need to expose the failures and weaknesses of their new acquaintances along with their own.
There are odd endearments interspersed with the invective, leading the viewer to wonder where all the malice comes from, since there are glimmers of affection. Is the affection dead or just methodically being buried? At one point, Martha reveals to Nick that George is the only man who has ever made her happy - so what happened? Is it her incessant insistence that he be more ambitious, and possibly more talented, than he actually is at the heart of their trouble? Or, was his willingness to marry her because she could improve his career prospects the root of the trouble? Is it that they could not have children, so invented one, the glue that held them together or the wedge that will finally destroy them? Is it that Martha reveals the "existence" of their child to Nick that sets George off? This is an act he experiences as the ultimate betrayal - their fantasy life is theirs alone, not to be shared with an outsider. He uses her indiscretion as an excuse to charm information from Nick and Honey that he uses as weapons on them later in the evening.
Nick and Honey are embryonic forms of the older couple, with a marriage built on lies and manipulation, motivated by their needs for protection and money. They are not at all what they appear to be. How will they end up?
In the end, with the "death" of their son, we are left to wonder if this is the turning point for George and Martha - if they can survive and rebuild a relationship in which they face reality and live with it. Or whether too much time has passed and too much damage has been done.
This play demands a lot from the actors and the audience. The actors deliver in spades. The audience has the gift of time to savor the subtleties and layers of this superb piece of writing and directing, which is not to be missed.
