Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Review

 I've been excited for the last couple of months about Newcastle Theatre Company's production of `Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf' which is now playing.  I've loved this play since I was a teenager. I saw it first in November 1983 with Robyn Nevin at the Royal in Sydney and later at the Civic Playhouse.  I've seen the Burton/Taylor film and there are some clips of Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre production on Youtube starring Tracey Letts and the incredible Amy Morton.

From Left, Howard Rawlinson, Wendy Ratcliffe, Graham Wilson
and Nyssa Hamilton struggle with their lines in `Who's afraid of
Virginia Wolf?'

I've always loved watching the main character Martha be destroyed by her browbeaten husband George. This revolting, degenerate woman being demolished is something I've taken joy in watching and I was expecting the same kind of payoff.  However this is a completely different take on the material,  much more interesting than what I'd seen before.  I think the basis for this production's success lies in the casting.

The director, Janet Nelson didn't follow the instructions in the text as a guide for the casting. Martha wasn't older than George, and Honey wasn't a stick figure.  Small adjustments were made to the script to accommodate the cast.  I've always seen Martha as a grotesque, disfigured soul viciously lashing out for her own entertainment.  Wendy Ratcliffe creates a beautiful Martha, bordering on glamorous. She took Martha and made her own interpretation smarter, cooler, vulnerable, and believable.  I could never understand how she could seduce the young biologist when she herself was so revolting physically and emotionally. Wendy Ratcliffe's Martha was not a villainous caricature this was a real person.

I've always seen George as a powerless and abused man, equal to Martha only in his malice and desperation.  Howard Rawlinson gives us instead an intelligent and resourceful George.  What he shows us is his love for his wife and he uses to redeem her rather than destroy her.  What I've seen before are Georges that cripple Martha. This production is about consolidation and reunion. This was a love story between two really fucked up people.  Howard Rawlinson stole the show and transformed George from pathetic to heroic.

Nyssa Hamilton created an adorable Honey.  As the play progresses she reveals Honey's own deep rooted emotional dysfunction and dishonesty.  Honey is usually played as a one dimensional ditz but Nyssa Hamilton gave her some real inner conflict and depth.  The voice she gave Honey was also fantastic.  The kind of loud brainless tone you might hear if you watch `The View'.

Graham Wilson was great as Nick. What a scumbag Nick turns out to be.  I realized tonight that the only reason Nick and Honey go to the house is because Martha has made some promise, either overt or subtle, before the start of the play and he's arrived to see if he can push his luck.  We see the relationship between Honey and Nick is based on illusion and bullshit.  Martha and George have a sexual and psychological connection that Honey and Nick will never have.  He is the worst kind of American villain, he's a phony.  Graham could have spent 2 hours a day for the last 6 months lifting weights and pressing benches which may have added to his presence, but he had the physicality to pull off the role.  There was a lot of threatened violence from Nick towards George and it was believable.

The set by Robyn Greenwell was very good. It didn't dot all the i's and cross all the Ts and left some room for the imagination.  It was also working in tandem to provide another layer of psychological discomfort.  The lighting design by David Fitzgerald was excellent and added to the action without being obvious or intrusive.  There was some nice use of music and sound, designed by Janet Nelson.
The feeling I got from this production was that the four actors, Director Janet Nelson and Assistant Director Amy Wilde, had worked very hard to bring this interpretation to the stage.  What they gave us tonight was an amazing version of an Edward Albee masterpiece.

Beyond that, it brought up issues that made me question my own responses.  The character of Martha hits many of my own psychological and emotional conflicts and unearths nostalgia in the blackest realms of my mind. What devastated me tonight was that for the first time, I saw a Martha that was beautiful and tragic and I wasn't expecting that.

I haven't seen much at the Newcastle Theatre Company recently.   I Love `You! You're Perfect. Now Change ' was magical.  `Educating Rita' and `Trelawney of the Wells' were delightful.  But this is the most moving show I've seen there since they staged `The Crucible'.

They deserve praise and packed houses.