|
|
|
 |
Highly Recommended
Reviewed by Tom Williams, ChicagoCritic.com
The games are fast, stinging and toxic
|
Kudos to Redtwist Theatre (formerly
Actors Workshop Theatre) for mounting a fluid, sharp and worthy staging of
Albee’s classic drama Who’s Afraid
of Virginia Woolf? The storefront intimate space on Anders
Jacobson’s artistic mural oriented set offers an ‘in-your-face’
presentation of the surrealistic and timeless tale of twisted
co-dependency and martial dysfunction. Jan Ellen Graves’ Martha is
deliciously full of venomous hate and toxic wit to be effective. Graves
riveting Martha is the bitch-from-hell we have grown to hate. Michael Colucci plays George,
the long suffering whipping boy, as an equal and strong game player
with enough guile to hold his own with Martha.
Originally titled, The Exorcism,
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? was Edward Albee’s first full
length play after his success with the one-act, The Zoo Story. Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
premiered on Broadway in 1962, ran for 664 performances and garnered
Tony Awards and was voted a Pulitzer Prize winner until a member vetoed
it because it was “filthy” (sexual content and language).
The play brought controversy and fame to Albee and, over the years,
became a central work of the American theatre. The 1966 film with
Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton became an instant classic. Critics
acclaim it as Albee’s greatest dramatic achievement. Redtwist Theatre’s production is definitely
worth seeing.
Combining the banal, the vulgar and the poetic, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
focuses on an embittered academic couple who gradually draw a younger
couple, fresh from the Midwest, into their vicious games of marital
love and hate. The play is a dramatic bloodsport with words and liquor
rather than weapons. Many found the play's excoriating wit and complete
lack of sentimentality disturbing.
Full of sardonic bitterness with a grotesque sense producing black
humor both funny and tragic, Virginia Woolf’s dialogue is sharp and
witty, often at the expense of someone else's feelings. It is a deeply
cynical play about the lack of human communication in the most sacred
of relationships: marriage. Disappointment and melancholy overpower the
characters as they continue to place their faith in their imaginary
worlds. Dissatisfaction and depression grips them.
Graves and Colucci are marvelous
together as they know how to land bittersweet humor amidst the
fighting and gamesmanship Albee demands. George and Martha are
wonderfully served by these two Chicago veterans.
Paul Perroni as Nick, the
ambitious professor and Amy
Speckien as Nick’s small-hipped wife deliver fine supporting
performances. Perroni strongly rebuffs Colucci’s (George’s) attacks and
Speckien is a hoot as the drunken little dolly. The four weave the script into a work
of stage magic. The audience was fully engaged from the initial
barbs from Martha.
The play attacks American optimism and it questions the American way of
life where sentiments and relationships have lost meaning and where
life has become one long game of competition where agonistic
relationships are built on false accusations and spiteful indictments,
but have no real weight to them.
Humans have isolated themselves from each other by escaping into
playing games and creating fantasies that only reinforce their
loneliness and despair. In the hands of four excellent actors, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
paints those heavy themes into an engaging and highly entertaining
play. This classic work is a thoroughly enjoyable treat. I loved this
fantastic play and Redtwist’s searing production. Come play the games
with George and Martha.
Back to top
|
 |
A masterpiece
performed as
a masterpiece should be.
WOW!
by Steven Hammond, EDGE Contributor
Tuesday Mar 4, 2008
|
Jan Ellen
Graves and Michael Colucci in "Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?"
If I could use one word to describe the actors
and their delivery of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, and the
showmanship and appeal of redtwist
theatre, formerly known as the Actors Workshop Theatre: wow! I know
that other reviewers might use words like "astounding" "magnanimous"
etc, etc, but "wow" is my
favorite word in the entire English language and redtwist theatre,
after this performance, has just moved into position to be my favorite place to see a theater
production.
The redtwist cast performs marvelously
in Edward Albee’s classic tale of the quintessentially dysfunctional
marriage, filled with venomous hate, toxic wit, raging sarcasm,
corrosive humor, and...love. Jan Ellen Graves with her three
names like any good assassin was locked-in and dead-on with her
portrayal of Martha: drunken sadist, floozy, and wife to George. Michael Colucci (George) does
not overstep his challenging role which has to battle the razor pointed
attacks from his wife, and an inner struggle to forge ahead as the man
who loves his spouse. Amy Speckien
(Honey) and Paul Perroni
(Nick) offer the perfect vision of youth and promise...that is, until
the night with George and Martha drags on. Paul Perroni eased
into the role of Nick by the middle of the first act. During the onset
he came across as loud, not matching his tone with the situation at
hand, but I chalk that up to opening night jitters because the rest of
his performance was flawless. Although Amy Speckien had the fewest
lines of the characters, she was just as professional and convincing as
the other members of the cast.
As for set design, let me just
say once again, wow! I had
been to the Actors Workshop Theatre once before for a play that did not
command as much space as "Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" and because
of this I was pleasantly surprised by the manipulation of space that
was able to take place for this production. A creative set was the end
result with enough space for the actors to move about freely and truly
bring the play to life.
The proximity to the action, and the intimate design of the theatre is
not all structural but exists within the friendly nature of the entire
redtwist staff. Managing Director
Charles Bonilla will always greet you with a smile, and then
happily take your money in exchange for your ticket. Good people. Good
fun. Great entertainment.
Steven Hammond is a Chicago poet,
photographer, and author of the book P, Anyone?
|
|
|
3½
stars out of four
By Barbara Vitello | Daily Herald Critic at Large
3/7/2008
|
Redtwist
gives Albee's 'Woolf' an intimate, up-close feel
The set for redtwist theatre's revival of Edward Albee's "Who's Afraid
of Virginia Woolf?" looks nothing like you'd expect.
Designer Anders Jacobson does away
with the comfortably cluttered living room that typically serves as
playground for New England college professor George and his wife,
Martha. He replaces it with a cool,
cartoon alternative, comprised of hard lines, sharp angles, a
black and gray palette and a skewed perspective that mirrors the
characters' warped psyches.
Not surprisingly, the lone splash of color in this intriguing,
monochromatic set comes from the vivid, primary colored liquor that
fuels the action.
Welcome to the
funhouse: an apt setting for an iconic couple who elevate game-playing
to an art.
Redtwist's funny, ferocious production reflects Chicago's storefront theater at its best:
up close and very personal. The company's Edgewater space holds
fewer than 40. But this tiny venue may be the best way to experience
Albee's uncomfortably intimate account of the confounding, co-dependent
relationship between discontented, undistinguished academic George (Michael Colucci, subtle, cagey
and always in control), and his abrasive wife Martha (a coarse, candid
and altogether engrossing Jan
Ellen Graves).
Their derision is exceeded only by their dependence. Yet somehow they
manage to make their dysfunctional marriage function. They're like a
couple of kids, engaged in a never-ending game of one-upsmanship.
Sarcasm underscores every interaction. Yet there's a playfulness to
their exchanges, at least initially. But their skirmishes escalate and
the insults and injuries become more pointed as the game spirals out of
control.
Into their playhouse they invite Nick
(deft work by Paul Perroni
who manages to be both smug and awkward at the same time), an ambitious
young professor, and his mousy wife Honey (the terrific Amy Speckien, who makes her
character more than a mere simp). They become the unwitting
participant/observers to the boozy confrontations, confessions and
revelations that make up this long night's journey into day.
Albee's play, which begins at a low simmer, heats up and boils over
into an ecstatic display of violence. Unrestrained, it becomes a
cliché. Co-directors Colucci and Malcolm Martinez don't let that
happen. Working from the script Albee revised for 2005's Broadway
revival starring Bill Irwin and Kathleen Turner (who toured in the
production that played here last year), they've effectively tailored
this visceral drama (played in two acts instead of the traditional
three) to redtwist's confines. That said, the staging gets a little
static at times and the floor seating makes for some awkward
sightlines. (The platforms flanking the stage seem to offer a better
overall view).
But those are minor points in what is a well-paced, expertly cast
production. For my money, Perroni and Speckien outshine their
counterparts from last year's Broadway tour. But this show belongs to
Graves and Colucci.
Ultimately, "Who's
Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" is a love story -- a perverse love
story, one filled with scorn and humiliation -- but a love story
nevertheless. Graves and Colucci, who are married in real
life, never let us forget that.
Back to top
|
 |
Metromix Pick
By Nina Metz | SPECIAL TO THE TRIBUNE
March 7, 2008
|
Bitter
grapes in 'Virginia Woolf
You can only tell so many lies before you have to tell the truth, and
in "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" the truth comes with the dawn. But
first there must be booze. And a seduction left unsated. And
resentments laid out like buffet of who-do-you-think-you-are? And
booze. Did I mention the booze?
The rapid-fire
put-downs -- on point, and enormously funny -- keep the
loneliness at bay if only for a time in Edward Albee's 1962 drama. This
is extreme fighting, marital division. Muddled in middle age and sour
grapes, George and Martha suck everything into their vortex of barbed
tongues and crossed lines, including their late-night party guests,
Nick and Honey. In the current revival from Actors Workshop Theatre
(soon to be Redtwist Theatre), everyone gets their licks, whether they
like it or not.
While the stage configuration (running the length of the theater) is
problematic -- the blocking means you miss seeing too many
all-important reactions -- the
performances are rather good, especially Jan Ellen Graves as Martha. She
is a limping cougar who can rally with the best of them before she
gradually falls apart as the wee hours of the morning tick by. Her
scenes with Nick (Paul Perroni,
terrific as a fermented opportunist) are stellar, all steamy and
desperate and grasping.
As George, Michael Colucci (who also co-directs with E. Malcolm
Martinez) is exhausted and acidic...the production design amplifies the
role of alcohol -- everything is black and white but the drinks, which
arrive in bright colors like blue and red and yellow. There's no
missing the point.
Back to
top
|
 |
"Daring Choices"
by Sarah Terez Rosenblum
Wednesday Mar 05, 2008
|
Jan Ellen Graves takes on Martha, the
daughter of a university professor and Artistic Director Michael
Colucci tackles her professor husband, George. When the two invite Nick
and Honey, a young couple, over for dinner, things don't just get
weird—they get verbally and physically violent. Fascinated by the
mounting drama, the young couple stays. And what results is a
completely insane evening. redtwist theatre adds an element of
surrealism, warping this into an even stranger ordeal.
_____________________________________________
The Centerstage Review, by Sarah Terez Rosenblum
Wednesday Mar 05, 2008
Redtwist Theatre makes daring choices in its production of Edward
Albee's blisteringly incisive comedy/drama, "Who's Afraid of Virginia
Woolf"...
"Woolf," an uncompromising look at the necessary dysfunctions which
creep into marriage, deals with a ferocious all-night argument between
a middle-aged couple, George and Martha (Michael Colucci and Jan Ellen
Graves). Hungry for an audience, they engage their young associates
Nick (Paul Perroni) and Honey (Amy Speckien). Alliances are made and
broken, secrets are exposed and enough alcohol is consumed to drown the
Eastern Seaboard. In a novel but heavy-handed gesture toward symbolism,
directors Michael Colucci and E. Malcolm Martinez chose to color code
the booze (blue for the men, honey-colored for Honey, and Red for
blood-thirsty Martha).
...Colucci, plays it low-key, delivering a Spencer Tracey-esque
performance. When George explodes he is captivating, his initial
discretion key to his menace. Most productions, including the Kathleen
Turner/Bill Irwin revival, depict Nick and Honey as wooden caricatures.
However, Peronni gives us a complex and confidently characterized Nick,
lending the role unusual resonance.
...Redtwist Theatre deserves credit for having the chutzpah to stage
"Woolf" in its tiny black box theater.
Back to
top
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
