Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

Published Thursday 9 October 2008 at 11:55 by Neil Bonner

The Garrick’s ambitious rep company has pulled off a mighty coup not only by attracting top-notch performers for its latest season, but in winning the rights to perform this bittersweet drama in the first place.

In order to obtain permission to present Edward Albee’s first and best-known play, artistic director Adrian Jackson and his team had to track down the American author himself. And anyone lucky enough to acquire one of the 140 seats during this run in the Garrick’s cosy studio theatre will be glad Albee gave his blessing.

While this production, with its household name stars, would surely fair well in any major theatre, the studio setting gives it an added intimacy. So we find ourselves virtually sitting in George and Martha’s living room, audience members visibly wincing, laughing, cringing and shuffling uncomfortably as the warring pair bait each other for three hours or so.

Matthew Kelly and Tracey Childs give towering performances as the tortured pair, maintaining an air of tension, and their American accents, from start to finish. Pulled into their bizarre lives for one long, game-playing, booze-sodden evening are their new ‘friends’ Nick and Honey. Again, the casting here is spot on, with superb performances from Mark Farrelly and Louise Kempton, the latter making brilliant use of body language that might have been lost in a larger setting, to convey much of her feeling.

After this marathon session, which includes two intervals, you come out feeling as bruised and battered as George and Martha’s respective self-esteem.