In the brief time it has been around, the Alchemist Theatre on South Kinnickinnic Avenue has largely been home to new, locally written plays. This week the Alchemist goes in a different direction with its new production of the classic 1962 Edward Albee drama, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Alchemist Theatre's Kirk Thomsen, who also directs the show, stars as Nick, a young professor who, along with his wife, Honey (Liz Shipe), has been invited to the home of an older associate professor named George (Michael Weber) and his wife, Martha (Sharon Nieman-Koebert). A dark evening of aggression, argumentation and emotional abuse ensues.
The drama, which challenged popular stereotypes of well-adjusted married couples in the '60s, won't be as familiar to the younger audiences that are more common to the Alchemist Theatre. With this production, the venue is hoping to attract an older audience without alienating its younger one. Thomsen agrees that it's a challenge to get people of any age to sit down for what is essentially three hours of people drinking and arguing, but explains that the negativity of the piece may, in fact, be its appeal.
"It's like a car crash," Thomsen says. "People don't want to look, but they do."
The trick is to perform the play effectively enough so that the overwhelming negativity comes across as an appealing emotional auto accident. Thomsen's love of the dark humor in this play should go a long way toward fostering an inviting atmosphere.
Thomsen and Shipe played Nick and Honey in a previous, independent staging at the Astor Theater. That experience could have an interesting effect on this production. Thomsen says that it's never clear why this young couple that hardly knows George and Martha would stick around once things start to get abusive. Most rational people would politely excuse themselves after a short while. Without changing the script, Thomsen hopes to address this idea in his own staging, which should prove to be a compelling challenge.
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The Alchemist's small theater space should amplify the stark intimacy of the play. The lesser light of lamps will take the place of harsh stage lighting and should help to create a strikingly natural atmosphere as well.
Alchemist Theatre's production of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? runs through April 4.
