Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf
Directed by Marck Morrison
Presented February 2009
Review by Donna
Bailey-Thompson
This outstanding production of "Who's Afraid
of Virginia Woolf" is a triumph worthy of an Off Broadway
venue. Under the sensitive, vigorous direction of Marck Morrison,
playwright Edward Albee's masterpiece is as fresh and cogent
today as when its debut rocked Broadway in 1962. Four
accomplished actors give stellar performances -- Claire Bertrand
(Martha), Bob Laviolette (George), Jami Byrne Wilson (Honey), and
Brian Dickey (Nick). There is not one false note during the
play's three hours. From the blaring opening scene through
the final heart-wrenching moments, Ludlow's Exit 7 Players
present riveting first-rate theater.
A bare-bones, no-meat synopsis of the play: Martha and George are
serious swillers of booze who have honed verbal abuse to an
outrageous art form. After they arrive home from a faculty
gathering, Martha informs George that she has invited a young
teacher, Nick, and his wife, Honey, to stop by for a drink.
Throughout the night into the dawn, emotional mayhem prevails.
Scabrous exchanges substitute for polite conversation. Terrible
psychological scars are semi-exposed that beg the question: truth
or illusion? Regardless, there is "blood under the
bridge."
Each actor skillfully balances the character's facade with
its underlying reality. George and Martha's symbiotic
relationship hovers at a parasitic level; both Laviolette and
Bertrand through subtle body language convey within their mutual
contempt a complicated, revengeful respect. Nick, the supposedly
fair-haired young man is exposed as being as unscrupulous as his
hosts. His fragile wife Honey's slow motion progression from
tipsy into alcoholic stupor is pantomimed virtuosity. Throughout
all three acts, Morrison's directorial skills have become the
actors' own. His respect for the audience's need to
absorb their insight into Martha and George's convoluted
natures is the gift of decompression -- a protracted final scene
of George putting the house to bed before he cradles Martha, his
spent other.
Productions of this caliber demonstrate that the bottom line
difference between a quality community theater and a regional or
NYC venue is money: the pros are salaried, whereas the
"amateurs" are dedicated volunteers. Those who lump all
community theater into a slapdash hobby category will have their
parochial opinions torpedoed by Exit 7's "...Virginia
Woolf."
Be advised: for mature audiences only.
THIS REVIEW
WAS FIRST PUBLISHED BY http://www.inthespotlightinc.org/
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© The Arts, etc., Copyright 2009
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