George and Martha are unhappy.

As they say, nothing good happens after 2 a.m.  In the early morning hours in 1961, George and Martha arrive home from a faculty party, but their evening is far from over.  Theater UnCorked offered an up close and personal peek into the brewing chaos of their living room as astonishing events begin to unfold on the grounds of this small New England college.

Nimbly directed by Ben Delatizky, Theater UnCorked presented Edward Albee’s Tony and Pulitzer Prize-winning drama Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf for one weekend only from December 6-10 live and in person at the BCA Plaza Black Box Theatre in Boston, Massachusetts.  This show is divided in three parts, is a meaty 2 hours and 30 minutes with two intermissions, and is appropriate for mature audiences.  Click here more information and for more on Theater UnCorked’s upcoming performances.

Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf was also famously adapted into a 1966 Academy Award-winning motion picture starring powerhouse couple Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton as well as Sandy Dennis and George Segal.  While all four actors were nominated for Academy Awards, only Taylor and Dennis won for Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress.

The show opens with Martha dramatically recalling one famous Bette Davis quote, but another Bette Davis quote, ‘Fasten your seatbelts!  It’s going to be a bumpy night!’ might be more accurate.  Her husband, George is not amused.

Each member of this small cast depicts their characters with searing finesse.  Edward Albee’s renowned and controversial script adds a darkly comedic tone to these multifaceted characters and the events that follow.  At times, the show is sympathetically funny and at others, one cannot help but laugh nervously at the growing tension.  This moving, complex, and raw production successfully hinges on Albee’s meticulous pacing and critical chemistry between each of these dynamic characters.

Without a bad seat in this intimate theatre, the audience was nearly immersed in the action onstage. Mike Mcteague’s horn-infused sound design maintains a foreboding tension and melancholy between each scene while Sehnaz (Shana) Dirik’s scholarly and sophisticated retro set and props include a wet bar, large bookcases, globe, couch and dark wooded vintage style end tables with ashtrays seemingly right out of the 60s.  Popular albums of the era and turntable are on display and a particularly notable Sinatra album, My Way is cheekily front and center. Even the doorbell has a vintage and nostalgic chime.   From darkly bold to flowered pastels, Richard Itczak’s multicolor costume design accentuates each character’s unfolding disposition.

Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf is lengthy, but anything but boring.   These are highly intelligent and substantial individuals who share cerebral conversations, each with a veiled agenda.  With a condescending cackle, Sehnaz (Shana) Dirik portrays vivacious but worn Martha.  Dirik has remarkable chemistry with her perceptive and calculating Associate Professor husband, George, depicted by Brooks Reeves.  Reeves has a talent for bringing to life complicated characters with a dark underbelly and he and Martha teeter from malevolent to bickering to seeming adoration at the drop of a hat.  Brooks and Dirik deliver powerhouse performances because Albee’s script invites no less.  The physicality, the endurance, and the sheer energy that it takes to capture these characters can be exhausting and yet, Brooks and Dirik are more than up to the challenge.  At one point, Reeves and Dirik are so invested in the sheer magnitude of this twisty production that one cannot help but be moved by the tracks of Reeves’s tears and Dirik’s wild yearning.

Anthony Rinaldi portrays affable department professor Nick while Brooke Casanova depicts naïve Honey, a polite married couple from the Midwest.  Both comically reflect what the audience might be thinking at first and at one point, Casanova as Honey is literally clutching her pearls.  They make an amiable and fascinating pair as their motivations gradually come to light in unexpected ways. 

Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf has many layers and one cannot think of how dangerous it can be to know someone all too well.  George and Martha have been together for 23 years and they know exactly which button to push for what they want.  Some marriages do not always have the other’s best interest at heart and this coupling for the ages.

Nimbly directed by Ben Delatizky, Theater UnCorked presented Edward Albee’s Tony and Pulitzer Prize-winning drama Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf for one weekend only from December 6-10 live and in person at the BCA Plaza Black Box Theatre in Boston, Massachusetts.  This show is divided in three parts, is a meaty 2 hours and 30 minutes with two intermissions, and is appropriate for mature audiences.  Click here more information and for more on Theater UnCorked’s upcoming performances.