Through Sun 11/4
Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, now disturbing the peace in the Beck Center’s Studio Theater, reminds us that drinking and talking do not mix. Although it premiered in 1962, much still rings true today in this production directed by Donald Carrier. The plot is simple: the wife of a senior faculty member invites a new faculty member and his wife over for a 2am nightcap after a drunken faculty party.
The resulting continuation of the booze fest turns into a disaster for the two couples. Exploitation and vulgarity get passed around evenly and everyone sustains damages before it’s over. It’s surprising how many betrayals can fit into three acts.
Exuding vitality (and profanity), Derdriu Ring becomes middle-aged faculty wife Martha, a woman who manipulates the men in her living room through seduction and shouting. Michael Mauldin (as husband George) tries to avoid his wife by reading (both aloud and silently), but it doesn’t work and the two persist until almost play’s end with their usual pattern of squabbling.
The lovely young Honey (Becca Ciamacco) finds herself out of her depth and panics. Honey brings an involuntary chuckle (it’s so mean to laugh at the poor thing) as she falls in love with the brandy bottle as a refuge. She and (the also lovely) Nick (Daniel Telford), don’t stand a chance battling the older couple. Ciamacco and Telford bring a subtle, refreshing vulnerability to their roles.
Set designer Aaron Benson seems to understand how academics live. The living room (the only room we see) reflects George and Martha’s disinterest in trendy furniture and their high tolerance for books on every surface (including stairs, footstools and the floor). Angie Hayes (sound designer) allows for yelling from adjacent spaces as the couples move out of sight upstairs or to the kitchen. Adam Ditzer (lighting designer) shows time passing with light changing through an outside window and Carolyn Dickey (costumes) takes us back to the 1960s.
It’s fascinating to observe the characters’ general discontent with life when they seem to have it made with nice enough homes and good jobs teaching at a posh little school. Perhaps it turns on the time it is set: 1962 was a period of transition, especially for women caught in the traditional careers then accepted as womanly.
Consider the title. The real Virginia Woolf, a modernist British author who died in 1941, was a brilliant person trapped in a restrictive world for women. Respectable women could be teachers, nurses and/or wives and mothers. That was still the norm for many in the 1960s.
Both Martha and Honey have in common that they both accepted the role of housewife and mother, but both have failed to produce children. Raising a family meant full employment for a woman, but Martha, for all her life and energy, has failed. Honey seems on a similar path. While George is bitter over how his life has turned out, one feels Nick may turn out the same way during his next 20 years of marriage.
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Everyone.
BOTTOM LINE: Five Tony Awards for this play suggests that Albee struck a nerve. Maybe not the same one for everyone, but this riveting Beck center version should hit at least one nerve per viewer.
[Written by Laura Kennelly]
Lakewood, OH 44107