Pinnacle’s Virginia Woolf is Disturbing and Brilliant

Reviewed by Michael Nielsen

Whether you’ve read it, seen the stage play, watched the movie, or none of the above–everyone is aware that WHO’S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF is a classic. PINACLE ACTING COMPANY’s production of the Edward Albee work shows us why it is a classic. As a reviewer and fellow theatre person, I find I am overly critical at times of a show’s performances and technical aspects. But try as I might, I couldn’t find a flaw in this production.

Being performed in the round, director L.L. West doesn’t pander to the audience using staging that would never happen in real life to keep the actors always facing out. The entire production happens in the living room of Martha (Teresa Sanderson) and George (Jared Larkin) and West has kept it moving and real, making us feel almost voyeuristic as we watch the action. The lighting (Natalie Colony), set (Geoffrey Michael Eastman), sound (Todd Olson) and costumes (Sean Bishop) are real and relatively simple, yet perfectly complement the mood and period of the show. But honestly, the real reason to see this show, are the performances of Teresa Sanderson and Jared Larkin.

It’s 2:00 AM and Martha and George are returning home from a faculty party for the university where George is “in History” and Martha is the daughter of the president. (“There are easier things than being married to the daughter of the president” bemoans George at one point.) Right from the beginning you know that this couple has always had a relationship of sarcasm and bickering. While it starts out mild and even at times teasingly, the fireworks are really just waiting to start. Martha has invited a young couple, a new member of the faculty who is “in Biology” and his wife to come to their home after the party. Nick (Mike T. Brown) is a handsome, up and comer–everything that George used to be and is jealous of now. Honey (Marin Kohler) is the
perfect wife, who is “fragile” and claims to not really drink, then proceeds to get quite drunk–something I sense she has done many a time.

As Martha and George continue to bicker and insult and it escalates, Brown shows us the discomfort we have all felt when witnessing family arguments and we as the audience feel. He continues to grow more and more disturbed and finally proves himself strong and cunning as he stands up to George and Martha. As Honey gets drunker, we see her vulnerabilities and her weaknesses, which, of course, George and Martha take full advantage of.

It is impossible to explain in this review the story and the depth and emotions that this production brings. There are many times that something is “hinted at” in the bickering. While some are explained, some leave you to decide what they meant and why they were important. We learn much about each of the characters, yet there are many unanswered questions that leave us trying to fill in the pieces and meanings.

The roles of Martha (“I have a fine sense of the ridiculous, but no sense of humor,”) and George (“We are merely exercising–merely walking what’s left of our wit,”) could easily be played as unlikeable and just mean-spirited, but Sanderson and Larkin bring humanity, reality and many levels to the characters. The highs and lows are perfectly timed. There are moments you totally understand why they love each other and are still together. There are moments when you wonder why they are together at all. Both have found the frailties and insecurities and let them occasionally slip out from under their fierce and biting facades. You honestly cannot take your eyes off of them, as they are as strongly in character when they are not speaking as they are when delivering the insults and asides. I can’t imagine that these characters have ever been portrayed as well as in this production. When all four are speaking, the difficult dialogue is so real and on top of (or even over) each other that you know they feel and believe what they are saying (“Anyone who comes here gets testy–it is expected.”)
During the intermission (one of two during this long but fast-moving show) I heard the director say it is a “light-hearted domestic comedy” and at one point George points out that Martha feels, “Unless you bust a gut, you aren’t enjoying yourself.” That said, there are some funny and very clever lines and moments in this show, but it is definitely not a comedy. I found myself trying to reason out different meanings and realities long after leaving the theatre. My partner and I even had different opinions as to past events that were hinted at throughout the show and all were plausible. To me, this type of audience involvement and emotion is what makes a classic a classic.

WHO’S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF
Pinnacle Acting Company
Remaining performances: June 20, 21, 27 and 28 7:30 PM, matinee 2 PM June 28
It runs Fridays and Saturdays through June 28th at the Westminster College Jewett Center.

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