Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

Truth or illusion, George; you don’t know the difference. 

No, but we must carry on as though we did. 

George and Martha. On the face of it, they are an upstanding and respected upper-middle-class married couple who roam the influential echelons of a New England university social scene. When they invite Nick and Honey, an ostensibly naïve younger couple to their home after a boozy dinner at 2 am, the dichotomy between truth and illusion widens and percolates into an acerbic, razor-sharp, dark and frantic smoky whirlwind exposing the flaws in their respective marriages. Welcome to the timeless behemoth of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, now on stage at Red Stitch Theatre until mid-December 2023.

Award-winning director Sarah Goodes brings to life Edward Albee’s 1962 play Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, which at the time of its premiere, was perceived as scandalous and controversial, due to the explicit dialogue and subject matter. In this iteration, the show is led by an exceptionally talented cast featuring Kat Stewart, David Whiteley, Harvey Zielinksi and Emily Goddard. The drama takes place in the living room of George and Martha’s home. The set was sumptuous and exquisite. The moody lighting, velvet couch, ornate glassware and a haze of smoke added to the ambience. The show time is close to three hours – with two intermissions to get a cheeky top-up of wine – but despite its long run time, it consistently delivers.

Few would doubt that Kat Stewart couldn’t master the role of the emotionally unstable, capricious and mercurial Martha, a role popularised in culture cannon by Elizabeth Taylor. Kat Stewart exceeds expectations and masters the depth of pain and the (taxing) gamut of emotion the role requires. Her timing of ‘You’re all flops. I am the Earth Mother and you are all flops’ is commendable. As George, David Whiteley perfectly portrays the character’s calculating, depraved and abusive nature. Married in real life – as were Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor – they were at ease in eliciting damaging taunts and getting physical when the dialogue called for it. Harvey Zielinski, as Nick, is apt in oscillating between the house boy and the stud, an object of George and Martha’s insecurities and jealousy. Emily Goddard shines as the saccharine yet wide-eyed Honey, caught in the grotesque web spun by her husband and her hosts.

A dark comedy for the ages, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? is a vicious and unapologetic deconstruction of a marriage consumed with hatred, resentment and toxicity. At the opening of the play, George and Martha prepare for the arrival of Nick and Honey, a lovely couple they met at a dinner party hosted by Martha’s father. Hostility brews between George and Martha when Nick and Honey arrive, and George is incensed when he learns Martha mentioned their son’s 21st birthday to Honey. As the quad drinks into oblivion, Nick and Honey have ring-side seats to the vitriolic, venomous takedown George and Martha heap on each other exposing their respective flaws and reasons why their marriage is a sham. Martha then sets her sights on Nick to make George jealous while Nick has his own agenda for bedding Martha. The taunts and physical assaults escalate to the point where George tells Martha he will win this game once and for all and leaves the house. George returns to play the final game, Bringing Up Baby, and announces that their son is dead, killed in a car accident. Martha is despondent while Nick and Honey watch on until it dawns on Nick just how far from reality George and Martha are. Defeated, broken and hapless, George asks Martha who’s afraid of Virginia to which she laments “I am, George, I am.”

Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? is playing until Sunday 17 December 2023. The season is sold out but you can join the waitlist by visiting the Red Stitch website here.

Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? 
Red Stitch Theatre, Rear, 2 Chapel Street, St Kilda East, 3183
On-stage until Sunday 17 December 2023
redstitch.net/whos-afraid-of-virginia-woolf-2023