Show and tell post #2: Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

I hereby show and tell Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolfe?  By Edward Albee. This play was written in 1961, after Albee had already attained fame, and proceeded to win the Tony Award for best play. This famous play made its debut on October 13, 1962, when it opened at the Billy Rose Theatre on Broadway. It has been and continues to be revived and produced rather frequently on the modern stage. Edward Albee’s work can be found through several mediums including textbooks, novels, and different sources on the internet. The version of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolfe that caught my eye was the most recent edition, revised by Albee for the 2005 Broadway revival, and published by New American Library.

This is a story about two highly dysfunctional couples, Martha and George, and Honey and Nick, who only came into each other’s lives through their jobs at a certain university. The plot takes place in Martha and George’s home within several hours between midnight and morning. I had a lot of trouble understanding this story, or even deciding whether or not Albee intended it to come across as a dream due to its absurdity. Martha’s father owns the university that employs both George and Nick. She and George spend the entire length of the play fighting like cats and dogs, and ruthlessly abusing one another. While Nick and Honey appear to be well off and in love at the start, but slowly reveal they are more like childhood friends that got married out of conformity, and view their union as boring imprisonment. The plot takes place in the living room, where the four of them drink scotch after scotch until their true identities come forth, and the skeletons hidden within reach the surface. The characters take turns loud capping one another without consent until there is no secret left untold, and no character left unharmed. By the end of the play, we know that Honey is an alcoholic because she knows Nick only married her because she got pregnant, and because she can’t bear the pain of the miscarriages that have haunted her. We can testify to the repulsive hate between George and Martha, and witness infidelity in both marriages and Nick and Martha attempt to have an affair in the kitchen with no concern for their spouses. Finally, we get an idea as to why Martha and George are both so unbelievably mentally unwell, as we discover the dark part in their past regarding the death of their only son. The story ends rather abruptly, leaving the audience almost in shock and probably wondering what the hell they just read.

Edward Albee makes the choice to add detailed stage directions, and vivid descriptions of how the characters should move, sound, and appear. This script is short-winded for the most part and quickly paced, the characters are not supposed to think before they speak. These stage directions and character clues help us as readers follow along without getting lost, and maintain the intended pace which keeps the shock value relevant. Another notable dramaturgical choice, made by Albee, is his incorporation of progression. Suspense and discovery bantered back and forth from start to finish, each time growing with intensity and importance, until all suspense was killed and there was nothing left to reveal. This made the story interesting and impossible to put down. Each time the suspense was reduced, something was revealed that connected you further to the script, which lead to another wave of greater suspense, and soon another significant revelation. This pattern is a common style found in the writings of Edward Albee, and has proved to benefit his career.