Edward Albee’s ‘Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?’

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Photo by Nicole Acosta

Milwaukee Chamber Theatre's 'Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?'

George and Martha are among theater’s—and literature’s—most infamous bickering, old married couple. Their peculiar acrimony drove the success of Edward Albee’s Tony Award-winner, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? And yet, even while their relationship is peculiar, their bickering speaks to something universal. In any long relationship, dreams can sour like last week’s milk and the taste of bitterness can be palpable.

Most of us know George and Martha and their two-hour argument through Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor’s portrayal in the 1966 film by Mike Nichols and Ernest Lehman. It’s a treat to see the couple back on stage with Milwaukee Chamber Theatre’s production of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, January 20-February 12.

George is a history professor whose brilliant career never materialized. Martha is the daughter of the college’s long-sitting president, a fact she wields like a switchblade. She is alpha, he is beta, but soon enough her stream of belittlement triggers a belligerent response at the far end of an especially drunken night. Albee’s astringent play takes a turn when Martha reminds George, “We have guests”—a young biology professor and his wife, carelessly invited to stop by after a boozy faculty party.

Albee’s play is about raw emotion and slippage—the slippage of language when lubricated by too much alcohol, the slippage of manners, of social boundaries. And for anyone who hasn’t seen the movie or the play, there is suspense in wondering how deep will be the wounds, how far will George and Martha go?

Milwaukee Chamber Theatre’s production stars Laura Gordon, Casey Hoekstra, James Ridge and Kate Romond, directed by Kiera Fromm.