Who’s
Afraid of Virginia Woolf
Spark
Theatre: 1/18 – 2/16
Todd Black and Suzanne Nepi
We sure do love to
lie to ourselves. That’s ultimately what Edward Albee, this country’s greatest
living playwright says to his audience in “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf.”
Everyone in this play is hiding behind a façade of beliefs that masks his or
her true experience in life.
Todd Black (George)
and Suzanne Nepi (Martha) duke it out in Spark Theatre’s production in a sort
of non-stop all night battle filled with verbal combat. This evening in which
they rip the scabs off wounds long buried beneath the veil of deceit is one
that’s bolstered by a kind of alcohol induced coma out of which all they can do
is intermittently strike out physically at one another as punctuation to the
eruptions of volcanic rage.
Cast against type,
Black and Nepi do a great job keeping us focused on George and Martha’s
outrageously dysfunctional relationship.
Director Cardell has
cast two relatively new actors in the roles of Nick and Honey-the newest addition
to the faculty and his mousey wife.
Nate Axtell turns in
a stunning performance as Nick. Axtell is an interesting choice on the part of
director Cardell, and this new (to this reviewer anyway) actor delivers a fine
reading.
Julie Butters-Wolf
gives us a Honey that is childishly oblivious to everything going on around her
except for those suddenly lucid moments where she becomes aware and frightened
of the Truth.
Luke Terry leads us
into each Act with a sensitively well thought out sound design.
Bernie Cardell
directs with a keen eye to the excruciating pain of exorcizing a lie as
described by Albee’s subtext. Todd Black has never been better than he is here.
Suzanne Nepi’s performance is passionate indeed.
Who’s
Afraid of Virginia Woolf playing exclusively at Spark Theater, Santa Fe Arts
District, 985 Santa Fe Drive, Denver. Thursday, Friday and Saturday’s at 7:30
p.m. January 18 – February 16, 2013 with a Sunday matinee on January 27th
at 2 p.m. Tickets are $20 with special pricing of $10 on Thursday’s, available
online at www.sparktheater.org.
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