Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf At Canadian Stage
I’m not a big fan of Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf and the new production at Canadian Stage’s Bluma Appel Theatre in Toronto did nothing to change my mind.
Perhaps when it debuted in 1962 this three hour plus exercise in concentrated bitchiness seemed envelope-pushing. American culture has steadily coarsened in the sixty years since, however, and looking back at this remove of time Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf seems merely tedious.
Part of its problem is that it became an instant cliché, so we all know the story of George and Martha and their long night’s journey into day and the pathetic nothingburger of their imaginary son.
Albee buffs, and they are legion, see deep meaning and Albee did nothing to discourage them. Rather pompously he titled the three acts of Virginia Woolf “Fun and Games,” “Walpurgisnact,” and “Exorcism.”
I maintain that the meanings read into Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf are a case of pareidolia, the human tendency to see patterns where none exist. I realize that puts me in a tiny minority, but being a member of a marginalized group has a certain cachet these days and I’m fine with that.
I am convinced that Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf gets revived with such great frequency for one reason and it has nothing to do with its greatness as a work of dramatic literature.
Edward Albee had a gift – his saving grace – for writing the kind of dialog and creating the kind of over-the-top characters that give actors a chance to really chew the scenery and few great actors can resist. Great actors, in turn, have a way of luring audiences, even reluctant ones like me, back into the theatre.
In this case, the draw was Canadian theatrical royalty, the husband-wife team of Paul Gross and Martha Burns of Slings and Arrows fame.
I can report that they are pretty good. Burns is perhaps not the ideal Martha. I see her as fleshier and blowsier. Elizabeth Taylor’s faded glamour in the film worked quite well. Burns is, however, a fine actress and she brings fire to the role.
I was afraid that Gross would prove too movie star handsome for George, but his shaggy grey-haired demeanor works very well. His precise comic timing does wonders with Albee’s barbs and he actually shows us the love, however twisted, that he still harbours for his shrew of a wife.
I also enjoyed detecting faint echoes of Geoffrey Tennant and Ellen Fanshaw in their performances, making me long to watch Slings and Arrows again,
I never really understood Nick (Rylan Wilkie) and Honey (Hailey Gillis), the hapless couple Martha invites into her house for a night of heavy drinking. Why Nick doesn’t just gather up his drunken wife and leave has always been a mystery to me and Albee doesn’t do a very good job of convincing me why he stays.
Director Brendan Healy, Canadian Stage’s artistic director, moves his actors about efficiently but fails to find the deeper meaning the play allegedly contains. That’s probably not his fault.
The stage of the Bluma Appel Theatre is vast and Julie Fox’s set makes it look like George and Martha live in a converted aircraft hangar designed by a brutalist architect, although I will grant that the revolve on which the living room furniture sits works rather well. The lighting by Kimberly Purtell provides moments of intimacy when required.
The show has been mic’ed unobtrusively by the ever busy sound designer Thomas Ryder Payne and for once I don’t object. Although I am unfamiliar with the Bluma Appel I got the impression that only opera singers could reach the back row of that cavernous space.
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf continues at the Bluma Appel Theatre through February 16, 2025. For more information and to purchase tickets visit the Canadian Stage website.
Footnote: To read my take on the 2011 Steppenwolf revival, click here.
Further Reading/Viewing
Watch the Taylor-Burton film version
About Edward Albee:
Mel Gussow’s biography “Edward Albee: A Singular Journey”
For the hardcore Albee fan “The Cambridge Companion to Edward Albee”
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