Ethan McSweeny's new production of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, which premiered last Wednesday at Center Stage Theater, faithfully adapts Edward Albee's wrenching classic back to the stage. The skill of its principal cast, direction and superb set design make for a powerful show, which is a look into conjugal blitzkrieg that plays its audience between the comic and tragic.
Martha (Deborah Hedwall) and George (Andrew Weems) have just returned from one of the numberless faculty soirees hosted by Martha's father. A sagging 50ish pair, they are both bitterly disappointed with the run of their lives. George disgusts his wife with his lack of career advancement and submission to her father; Martha, meanwhile, could too kindly be called a shrew, a piercing lush who spares no insult for George.
Together, they make every second a feud and turn drinks with Nick (Erik Heger) and Honey (Leah Curney) into a ritual bloodletting between Man and Wife. George and Martha submit themselves and their guests to a variety of games like "Humiliate the Host" and "Hump the Hostess," all of which appear eerily routine to them. The festivities dissolve and the insults get deeper, until the two resolve to make this particular night the one that counts. "I'm going to make you sorry you ever let yourself down," Martha says, after the two agree to shift the contest to "Total War."
The plot, a notorious downward spiral, is hard to discuss without giving much away. However, the strength of the play is in its performances, especially those of George and Martha, and it is here that this production succeeds most. Deborah Hedwall manages Martha's leaps and howls without signs of exhaustion; between lewd hip thrusts and dances, the role is almost entirely shouting, cursing and crying. Her energy parries exceptionally well with George's, and Andrew Weems deserves the highest credit for it.
While the part of Martha was more rigidly scripted by Albee, George allows for more invention, with possible interpretations ranging between wrath, despair and playful brutality. Andrew Weems opts for the more joshing attitude and takes the night of "Fun and Games" to heart, while still conveying the scars underlying their marriage and Martha's insults. The dynamic between Weems and Hedwall is the play's best spectacle; the two eagerly go for the throat and shout millimeters away from each other's faces, so much that from a third row seat one can literally see torpedoes of spit flying.
Nick and Honey, though less impressive, do their roles proper justice where it counts. As the chiseled new addition to the faculty, Erik Herger plays the pompous angle well; however, as the play goes on it seems as if he can't decide between laughter and recoil, and as a result the character fails to progress as he might. Honey, the dainty drunken wife, is of mostly referential importance, but Leah Curney's airheaded performance can be rather charming.
Aiding these performances is some truly impressive set design. The amount of detail is arresting; from the half-imbibed scotch glasses strewn to the period's Life Magazines, bookshelves and furniture, the sets accomplish both the mood of New England bourgeois academic life and the deteriorating state of George and Martha's marriage. There even seems to be the right pine smell about, inadvertent or not (I could see groups of hipsters circling the set, sniffing at the couches).
The Center Stage's three-quarters set-up, along with the levels and depth of the stage, help immerse the audience in the lives of these characters. After each of the two intermissions one feels like he is re-entering the ring, back in the parlor for more carnage.
At nearly three hours and 10 minutes, the performance can be exhausting: the dialogue is always at fever-pitch, people are dancing, singing, and Martha seems, until the end, miles from going hoarse. This aspect is, in fact, its best asset. Few plays aim to wear the audience out with its characters, and fewer succeed. Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? relies on this immersion. George and Martha's behavior, overbearing at some parts, paganistic at others, erodes at the viewer, their guests and themselves. The play is involving enough in print to demand a straight read-through, and here its best qualities are all represented on stage.
The atmosphere and passion of the leads enchant and beleaguer, run the audience through loops they don't perceive. George and Martha's final monologues are so deftly performed that audience members would laugh at a remark spoken earlier, only to retract nervously, realizing, like the characters, what the jokes mean for them.
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? is playing at Center Stage on North Calvert St. from Oct. 22 to Nov. 30. Tickets can be purchased at www.Centerstage.org, by phone at (410) 332-0033, or at the box office. Full-time students can purchase half-price day-of-show tickets with a valid ID.
