Review: WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF? at Soho Place Theatre

We join Martha and George (headliners Gillian Anderson and Billy Crudup) returning to their on-campus home in the small hours after a faculty party. He teaches at the History department. She is the college President’s daughter. Over 20 years of marital disappointment and communication through acid barbs, they have grown used to, and contemptuous of each other. Into this volatile, alcohol-fuelled mix, are decanted Nick, the handsome new high-flier of the Biology department and his sweet but intellectually lightweight wife Honey (Josh Dylan and Phoebe Horn). Martha’s invitation to the young couple without consulting George, is borne of barely disguised lust and a desire to play cat and mouse while ruffling the feathers of her staid and stolid academic husband. We’re left in little doubt that this follows a typical pattern of behaviour for the pair, only this evening revelations go way beyond the usual bitter point-scoring, and a watershed moment is reached.

Elliott’s long-time collaborator Miriam Buether has played to SohoPlace’s strengths, designing a round within the round set which revolves almost imperceptibly, requiring the careful timing of exits and entrances. The rings which encircle the central playing area are winched aloft at the start of each section and carry scene-setting title phrases, such as Fun and Games (Act I), and Walpurgisnacht (Act II) which presages the discussion between the men during which Martha’s frequently volatile behaviour is likened to that of a witch. In the final section The Exorcism (Act III) attacks on everyone’s already weaponised emotional vulnerabilities are ramped-up. After enduring abject humiliation, George sets about destroying the childless couple’s ultimate coping mechanism by killing-off their imaginary 21 year old son through the announcement of a tragic car accident which neatly loops back to the loss of his own parents years before.

A feast of caustic barbs delivered with wry humour and sexual tension, this production takes a gentler approach to the internecine excoriation inherent in Albee’s text. While the end result is gentler than the battling titans of the film, it is none the less effective and perhaps more redolent of our touchy-feely times.

WHO’S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF plays 3 hours 30 mins with interval and continues at SohoPlace until 19th December.

Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Tickets