Barnstormers' Woolf admirable

Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Apparently not the Johns Hopkins University Barnstormers. With the assistance of professional Director Peter DeMaio, the student-run theater group has taken on Edward Albee's complex, '60s-era drama that addresses the state of American society through the lives of two tormented couples. My, what big results they have!

Albee has crafted a cold-war era allegory on the decaying state of then-modern society through an older couple's sadistic relationship and their interactions with another equally unhappy pair 20 or so years their junior. Set in the fictional New England town of New Carthage, the play features George (senior Brandom Nielsen), a 40-something history professor, who is married to Martha (junior Keelye Pratt), the daughter of the university's president. Father, never onstage but always a presence, has requested that his daughter invite a newly hired chemistry professor Nick (sophomore Brad Fuller) - think Nikita Kruschev, then in power in the communist Soviet Union - and his little wife Honey (freshman Emily Kaplan) to their home following a university staff party. All four are under the influence and enter singing the play's eponymous, twisted version of a child nursery rhyme about Woolf, the reality-questioning author.

The games start early: first, Martha lashes into George, humiliating him in front of his guests as they watch, embarrassed. But Nick has played along a little too well, and George uses privileged information about the young couple's relationship to seek his revenge, sending Honey running from the room, sick.

At this point, Albee is only half-done. With a sick wife, Nick can no longer leave, and he, Martha and George set out to destroy one another in "total war."

Albee's societal implications are interesting: America, sanity in question, is ready to self-destruct like Carthage in the Punic Wars before the Soviet Union's eyes. But in order for the audience to grasp exactly what is going on, the rest of the play - cast, set, etc. - must be perfect.

The Barnstormers have succeeded admirably: The four cast members maneuver around an elaborately designed, quasi-Victorian set. The setup, a creation of Tech Executive Mike Pokorny and Directors Raphael Schweber-Koren and Neil Bardhan, is complete down to the plush, leather couches, artwork-adorned walls, functional lamps and, of course, the full bar.

The cast members themselves slide easily into their roles. Pratt is a cruel yet introspective Martha, and Nielsen, as George, switches between violent and subdued. The two are convincing as an older, married couple and interact well together. So do Fuller and Kaplan: he, the uncertain youth with unclear motives, and she, the vapid, incoherent "mouse" of a girl. Kaplan compensates for her character's lack of personality by throwing her full body into the performance. Her place among the three manipulators is a bit confusing: She is not innocent, yet she is condemned to a supporting role in the others' games, and at times her lack of perception is inconsistent with her age and even with her level of inebriation. It is as if when the others question reality, she is the walking, talking answer.

Seeing Virginia Woolf takes a sizable commitment: the play, divided into three acts, takes a three-hour time commitment in the theater and is sure to seize many more for thought after the fact. But if you're willing, it's worth it: professional-level theater won't always fall on your doorstep for such a minimal price.

Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? will be onstage at 8:00 p.m. on Nov. 16, 17 and 18 in the Swirnow Theater in the Mattin Center. Student admission is $3.