Theatre Review: Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

Albee's master work still packs a punch 63 years later

I saw my fourth production of Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (Albee called it “V Woolf” for short), at Canadian Stage in Toronto at its opening on Thursday. I was lucky to see both Broadway revivals in the 2000’s/2010s, as well as the Stratford Festival production starring Martha Henry.

Full disclosure: I feel linked to the play, not only from watching the movie on TV when I was too young to appreciate it (my father said “That’s a terrible film!” but still let me finish it), but because I got to interview Albee (in 2002) and study with him (in 2004). It’s the core of my one man remembrance Making It Up (One Playwright to Another). Meeting and briefly working with Albee made me appreciate all of his work, and especially V Woolf as more than just a casual theatre-goer. (See the photo of my signed copy of the play.)

The Canadian Stage production stars real life husband and wife Paul Gross and Martha Burns as George and Martha. Honey and Nick are portrayed by Hailey Gillis and Rylan Wilkie (Wilkie filling in for Gillis’s real life husband Mac Fyfe).

George and Martha command the stage, and Gross and Burns are more than up to the task. Their real life partnership clearly informs how they play with and off each other, both as fellow performers and as the characters. These are Mount Everest-like roles, and Gross and Burns meet the demand, guided by director Brendan Healey for the long night’s journey into day.

The play is meant to shock, and Healey has a few surprises along the way to elicit that exact reaction.

There is also chemistry between Honey and Nick, and Gillis finds a real edge in Honey, especially as the evening (morning? The story begins at 2 am) wears on, an edge that is perhaps easy to miss in her character as the put-upon wife.

Kudos to Rylan Wilkie, who took over for Fyfe a scant five days earlier, and with script in hand, acquitted himself beautifully.

The 1960’s shag rug set for the play is George and Martha’s living room, and nothing in the script suggests the need for a change of locale. (The movie famously switched locations to a local roadhouse pub for the “get the guests” sequence in the second act). Without stealing the thunder of designer Julie Fox, suffice it to say, she and Healey find reason to make the set move more than once during the performance.

The play is a workout for all involved, including the audience. Three brutal acts with two intermissions adds up to a 3.5 hour evening.

If you’ve got the stomach for how George and Martha beat up on each other, and their unlucky guests, consider yourself lucky as audience to witness this fine production. The play still stands up with its wit and anger in tact.

Albee observed (I’m paraphrasing) that art’s responsibility, especially theatre, is to do what Shakespeare’s Hamlet stated- hold the mirror up to nature. That’s it. Show audiences the truth. And if you don’t like what you see- then change.

On stage until February 16th.