Saturday, August 1, 2015

Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf
The Edge Theatre:  7/24 – 8/16

               L-R: Scott Bellot and Emma Messenger

Edward Albee is our greatest living playwright. “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf” is arguably his best play. It won the Tony Award for Best Play in 1963.
     The production currently on view at The Edge Theatre is riveting throughout and emotionally draining. It’s a roller coaster ride that lovers of dark serious drama will not want to miss.
     Emma Messenger delivers a Martha, seething with rage that translates into castrating vitriol directed at her well-meaning, academic husband, George.  Messenger commands the stage with intensity and passion.
     Scott Bellot’s passive aggressive George starts on simmer, comes to a slow boil and then blows the lid off the pressure cooker. It’s a violent moment that allows his pent up rage to boil over scalding all in attendance.
     JamesO’Hagan-Murphy’s wunderkind, Nick finds out from Scott Bellot’s loquacious and world-weary George that the cliché about “Old age and treachery winning out over youth and skill” is only a cliché because of its truth. Inept in everything but having secured a job on the bottom rung of the academic ladder and being eye candy for the older professors’ wives, O’Hagan-Murphy’s Nick finds himself a guppy in a tank-full of piranha.
     Maggie Stacy’s performance as Honey is completely natural. This Honey’s humor – and nausea - is never showy and always completely organic. Her moment of discovery that her husband, Nick has betrayed her trust in speaking of her ‘hysterical pregnancy’ is memorable for its intentionally pathetic poignancy.
     Rick Yaconis directs this black comedy with unflinching honesty. His direction of Ms. Messenger to go directly to the bar and chop a banana in half at the top of the play speaks volumes.
     Perhaps a few more books might have been stuffed into the bookcase of these aging academics. But other than that Christopher M. Waller’s scenic design is exceptional.Marlowe's Musings



The Edge Theater presents
"Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?"   
Edward Albee’s scorching tale of an embittered marriage.
July 24 - Aug. 16
Fri./Sat. @ 8 p.m.; Sun. July 26 & Aug. 2 @ 6 p.m.; Sunday, August 9 & 16 @ 2 p.m.; Thurs. July 30, Aug. 6 & 13. 
The Edge Theatre, 1560 Teller Street, Suite 200, Lakewood CO 80214. Free Parking.
For mature audiences



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