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.
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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