BROADWAY SNAP-SHOT
by Russell Bouthiller
Dateline: March 30, 2005
WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF
The stage of the Longacre Theatre becomes the battlefield for one of the theater's angriest married couples in Edward Albee's WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF. Starring Kathleen Turner as Martha, the middle-aged daughter of a College president, and Bill Irwin as George, her professor husband, Albee's most famous work gets it second Broadway revival under the crisp direction of Anthony Page.
Synonymous with substance abuse, these dysfunctional academics rip into each other with the zeal of Spielberg's great white shark. Making mincemeat of each other seems their daily repast and when a new instructor and his young wife come over for late night cocktails, they ensnare the couple in their tangled torment.
After a routine faculty party, George and Martha invite Nick (David Harbour), a new member of the teaching staff, and his wife, Honey (Mireille Enos), for a friendly nightcap. The couple have no idea what they're in for, but they get an inkling when they come through the door to find George and Martha cursing at each other full tilt. George and Martha try to pass this off as good-hearted banter, but it's just a prelude to the vicious sparring yet to come.
The balance of the play retraces elements of the quartet's past, all of which becomes grist for the mill. Martha is the castrating female who has never found a man to match the inflated image she has of her father. George is the embittered spouse who, after years of humiliation, has honed his sado-masochism into an artful weapon. Nick is the young academic looking for the fast-track to success and Honey is his mealy-mouthed meal ticket.
While consuming more liquor than a college frat house on a three-day weekend, the four manage to touch every possible raw nerve. The two youngster are mere amateurs compared to the calcified George and venomous Martha. Nick imagines himself to be in their league. But, once he has his way with Martha, she turns on him like a black widow as she impugns his virility. Honey, on the other hand, cannot keep up and ends up worshipping the porcelain god.
David Harbour as Nick presents an impressive image as the athletic young prof. Broad and tall, he looks as though he could squash George like a bug, but he's outclassed by his opponent's middle-aged bitterness. Mireille Enos portrays Honey in a manner uncannily similar to Sandy Dennis who performance earned an Oscar in the famous 1966 film adaptation directed by Mike Nichols.
Bill Irwin is dauntingly spineless as George, which makes his flourishes of cruelty all the more effective. With every ounce of liquor he consumes, his urge to do battle grows more and more intense. Irwin recently paired up with Sally Field in Albee's Tony-winning play, THE GOAT. But, he is best known for his clownish antics in such works as FULL MOON. That gentle persona makes his portrayal of such a pitifully desperate character disturbingly poignant.
And, like a bottle of fine twenty-year-old scotch, Kathleen Turner seems to have aged to perfection. With her gravel voice and manly swagger, she is at the perfect moment in her career to pour herself into this role. She doesn't just chew up the scenery, she incinerates it with her every breath. Most will associate Elizabeth Taylor's Oscar-winning performance with Albee's Martha (she played against husband Richard Burton), but that image quickly dissolves like a tiny little ice cube in a rocks glass. After the cool reception to the stage version of THE GRADUATE, Turner is back on the boards with a vengeance.
Anthony Page's direction keeps things moving at a clipped pace, considering this is a lengthy play (three acts) with a resolution that doesn't quite equal the long build up. John Lee Beatty's stuffy New England home is richly rendered and effectively lighted by Peter Kaczorowski. WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF, fasten your seat belts.