‘Virginia Woolf’ has something to say and, yes, be afraid | Review
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It has been years since I have dropped in on George and Martha, the sniping hosts of one of theater’ s most uncomfortable social gatherings in “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf.” The quarrelsome couple is onstage in a production by Oviedo’s The Ensemble Company, and as embodied by David Lowe and Janine Papin are in fine form.
And by fine form, I mean as complicated as ever. They are ultimately tragic, at times comical but always compelling. Director Matthew MacDermid has ever so slightly lightened the play from some of the darker versions I’ve viewed over the years. The horror and anxiety of being trapped in a beyond-awkward situation remain but those feelings are tempered by a few moments in which the audience can breathe — until the next round of battling begins.
As Edward Albee’s 1962 masterpiece opens, it’s already 2 a.m. and George and Martha are returning home after a night of drinks at a faculty party. George is a college professor; Martha’s father is the college president. She’s still laughing about a joke told at the party that gives the play its name, but the audience quickly sees the couple has a highly combative relationship.
The fighting doesn’t stop when a couple of late-night guests arrive for an impromptu after-party. Nick is a new faculty member, who embodies so much of what George has lost: Youth, potential, hope. Nick’s wife, Honey — who proves to be a lightweight as the booze keeps flowing — completes the quartet.
The action plays out in George and Martha’s living room, designed with lovely detail by Bonnie Sprung. The generic brick and paneling, coupled with the fading family photos, paint a picture of mediocrity for a couple who dreamed of more.
Lowe gives George an extra dollop of cunning; it always seems he’s plotting his next move in the psychological game he’s playing with his wife — and his young guests. Papine lets Martha relish in emasculating her husband but also draws a fine emotional trajectory as the woman begins to fear things have gone too far.
Gabriel Garcia deftly navigates Nick’s turmoil as he veers from indignation to confusion to cockiness to fear. And Shelby Mae Randle plays the most naturalistic character — a young woman who knows this isn’t a normal party — without overdoing Honey’s drunkenness.
By its argumentative nature, “Virginia Woolf” is a very loud play — “There’s been a lot of screaming going on around here,” Nick says at one point — and I wish MacDermid had found a few more quieter moments, especially for Lowe, not only for the audience’s ears but for their brains. This is a thinking play, and writer Albee wants theatergoers to consider the dangers of eschewing reality for a more comforting fantasy world of one’s own making.
We currently see this happening, on a national scale, with political and social issues — and those ramifications are yet to be fully seen. But on a personal level, we already know the results can be emotionally devastating. George and Martha showed us that all those years ago, and their message hits home just as hard today.
‘Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf’
Length: 3 hours, with 2 intermissions
Where: Penguin Point Playhouse at Oviedo Mall, 1220 Oviedo Mall Blvd.
When: Through May 21
Cost: $18-$22
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