Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf at The Gamm Theatre through February 18, 2024
Transcript:
Luis Hernandez: The show opened on Broadway in 1962, won the Tony for best play in 1963, and became a film in 1966 starring Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor. The play opened last week at the Gamm Theatre, and both Artscape Producer James Baumgartner and I saw it and have our review of the show. James, what did you think of George and Martha?
James Baumgartner: The play fits into a genre of fiction I like to call “People Being Mean To Each Other.” I know that sounds kind of dismissive, but there are so many examples of this: married couples or families fighting and actively trying to hurt each other. The Jonathan Franzen Novel “The Corrections” is my go-to example of the genre, and I often find it tiring to see people fighting like this. But Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf goes so far beyond with the characters’ cruelty and animosity towards each other that it is a thrill to watch.
Hernandez: When you say “people being mean to each other,” I’m reminded of “The War of the Roses,” the Kathleen Turner/Michael Douglas movie from 1989. But this play set the template for this type of story. George is a history professor at a small college, and Martha is the daughter of the college president. And she resents George for not making more of himself. The play opens with the couple getting home from a faculty party, and Martha has invited a younger couple over for more drinks. Nick is the new biology professor at the college, and Martha says that she wants to welcome him and his wife. But she has some ulterior motives as well.
Baumgartner: Yeah, she does have an interest in the tall, handsome, younger professor. But it seems like the main motive for inviting the younger couple is that George and Martha will now have an audience for their epic battle. And they do perform for this audience, even bringing them into their games of torturing each other.
Hernandez: And it’s not enough to make them play in their games; George and Martha torture the young couple as well. It’s a three-act play, about 3 hours long, including the two intermissions, but it breezes by, and that’s all thanks to the fantastic performances by the actors, particularly the leads played by Tony Estrella and Jeanine Kane. I had a chance to talk to them after Sunday’s performance. I asked Jeanine what it was like to play such an iconic role.
Jeanine Kane: The only resource I have, really, for this role is me, and what’s going on, you know, in my life and what I’ve, where I’ve come to at this point. So, you know, just letting myself come to the role, you know what I mean, rather than putting something on myself to make it someone else.
Baumgartner: She’s great, and so is Tony. Even though they are constantly fighting throughout the play, Tony and Jeanine show us that this couple has a remnant of love; maybe it’s just familiarity, but they’ve been together for 20-25 years, and they know how to play off each other.
Hernandez: The set was beautifully built and planned by Jessica Hill Kidd, and the lighting by Jeff Adelberg is subtle and perfectly sets the different moods as the play progresses. Here’s what Tony Estrella had to say:
Tony Estrella: You can really lose yourself in the detail of it. You can feel like you’re in the living room. I think it pulls the audience into that house with them in a beautiful, beautiful way. It’s very exciting. But then as the play evolves, the house becomes its own organism over time, you know, and it kind of, it comes to life in a way. That feels that lifts the play into something else, I think into poetry.
Baumgartner: Yeah, I loved the wallpaper and the bookshelves and the hi-fi. It does feel like you are inside of a mid-century professor’s living room. And let’s not forget Nick and Honey, played by Gunnar Manchester and Gabrielle McCauley. These are “supporting” roles, but the actors bring us into the characters as their lives are wrecked by George and Martha. This is an iconic play of the 20th century, and you could see it on film, but it is thrilling to be in the room with these performers.
Hernandez: This is probably the best show I’ve seen so far at The Gamm. This is a homerun for me. You can see “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf” at The Gamm Theatre in Warwick now through Feb. 18.
Disclosure: The Gamm Theatre is an underwriter of The Public’s Radio. Editorial decisions are made independently of business support.
The post ‘Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf’ at the Gamm is a thrilling experience appeared first on TPR: The Public's Radio.