Tickets: £15
£10 (Students, NHS, Universal Credit)
Presented by Next Stage Theatre Company
Monday 23rd - Friday 27th May, 7.30pm
Next Stage Theatre Company are delighted to bring this 1962 modern classic to The Mission Theatre with an in-the-round staging under the direction of the company’s Artistic Director Ann Ellison BEM.
George, a middle-aged professor in a small New-England college, and his wife, Martha, stumble home, drunk from a faculty party. Martha announces, amidst general profanity, that she has invited a young couple - opportunistic new professor, Nick, and his shatteringly naïve bride, Honey - to stop by for a nightcap. As the drinks flow and inhibitions melt, it becomes clear that Martha is determined to seduce the young professor, but her husband couldn't care less.
As the young couple are drawn into a traumatic night of dangerous fun and games it becomes apparent that underneath the edgy banter, which is crossfired between both couples, there lurks an undercurrent of tragedy and despair in the personal Hell that is George and Martha’s marriage. Finally, the root of the couple’s inhuman bitterness towards one another is revealed, providing a stunning, almost unbearable climax that has shocked audiences for years.
Do not miss the chance to see this searing black comedy with Jane Lawson and Richard Matthews taking the iconic roles of Martha and George.
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? By Edward Albee. REVIEW by Rebecca Beard 24/08/2022
First performed in 1962 this play takes us through the events of a night when// two couples drink and talk during the wee small hours after a collegiate dinner party. Ever-present is the theme is that we all have difficulty perceiving what is real and what is imaginary. “Truth and Illusion.” We may not know the difference, “But we must carry on as though we did.” Although primarily applied to Martha, whose life-sized fantasy comes crashing down at the climax of the play, each character bears his or her own personal delusion. Now called lived experience, this post-modern idea of epistemic instability of meaning is painfully dissected here.
The set was appropriately furnished and dressed with great attention to period detail including a soda syphon, overflowing ashtrays, onyx lighter and newspapers. Costume choices were also good, although I felt that Honey's outfit was not quite of the era, but perfect for emphasising her figure. Performing it in the round worked well, placing the actors in a goldfish bowl as the audience savoured every gesture and facial expression. It would have been good to see it performed in its original three acts, but I understand why this was not possible and the timing of the division in act two was apt.
Space was used well and the blocking had a natural quality. Specific chairs quickly accrued significance, and the central table became a barrier as well as a place around which the characters prowled and danced while having their “Fun and Games.” Grown-ups they might be, but their behaviour was often childlike and childish, even with the adult additions of sex and alcohol. Superb direction by Ann Ellison drew out every nuance of the densely-written script. Not a syllable was wasted, as the cast inhabited their characters with skill and sympathy. They kept us spellbound as they broke the tension to high comedic effect, only to plunge us into dark discomfort within the space of a speech. There were times when the embarrassment we felt on behalf of the characters was palpable. Every theme was explored in excruciating detail including emasculation, sophistication and ambition, along with the elephant in the room – infertility.
Georgi Bassil as Honey brought a naive charm to the part, which made her character's revelation all the more poignant. She was the perfect foil to Dan Darragh's Nick who quickly showed his true colours as the young man in a hurry to climb the greasy pole of academe by any means. Richard Matthews as George and Jane Lawson as Martha had all the right chemistry as the couple who cling to their dysfunctional relationship to function in the face of the adversities which life has thrown at them. His laughter at the end of the Walpurgisnacht section was chilling and her quiet resignation as he held her tenderly was a truly moving end to the performance.
Everything about tonight's performance in this little gem of a theatre demonstrated high production and directorial standards. We know when we are in the presence of good drama, and this was the perfect confluence of a great play done well.
Who's impressed by the Next Stage Theatre Company? I am.
