Nothing But A Game

Review - Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf (the Whole Art Theatre, Kalamazoo, MI)

There are no games without pain, and the marital game, particularly, is a tough one to play. The Whole Art Theatre’s production of “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf” provides the audience a chance to examine the blood sport of marriage.

Based on Edward Albee’s 1962 Broadway play, “Virginia Woolf” is a story of a long night’s journey of a spineless history professor (George), his big-breasted antagonist wife (Martha), and their guests – a pretentious biologist (Nick) and his mousy wife (Honey).

As George and Marta continue their booze-fuelled battle, the audience realizes that their vicious marital wrestling match is only a device to hide real wounds. People prefer fantasy to reality and avoid looking directly at their pain. The scene where George slamming the door-chimes in agony after Nick and Martha runs off to the kitchen for the game of ‘hump the hostess,’ presents to us the chilling sign of vulnerability. The story acquires a shattering emotional power, as the characters break through the game-rounds and confront the truth about their much-discussed son. Like Martha says, “Truth or illusion, who knows the difference?”

Martie Philpot is remarkable at conveying the transition between Martha's braying sultriness and her suddenly becoming unbearably poignant as she faces the facts about herself and her gin-soaked charade – marriage. Philpot’s Martha cannot be any more convincing when she murmurs to herself “I disgust me.”

But it is Richard Philpot who truly steals the show by playing George, the pathetically obedient husband who does “whatever love wants.” The actor who spent eighteen years in New York City studying acting transforms himself into a perfect George and makes everyone wants to scream ‘how do you stand your wife?’ When George finally snaps and almost strangles Martha to death saying “Well, that’s one game, what should we do now?,” chill runs up and down the spine.

Carol Zombro (Honey), on the other hand, might want to consider that sometimes less is better and tone down the level of dramatization and her make up a bit. Even with the understanding of Honey’s overly perky and immature character, watching Zombro giggling and throwing a fit like an inane child wearing horrible green eyeshadows and orange lipstick seems over the top. Trevor Maher who plays Nick lags down the production. Maher’s over-theatrical performance is what makes the audience feel uncomfortable rather than the character’s pretentiousness, cockiness, anxiety and constant frown. Nick is supposed to be uncomfortable in the situation, not Maher on stage.

Despite a few minor flaws, Randy Wolfe, the director, pulls it all together and clearly demonstrates the intensity and drama that can be unleashed when the persona people have created are exposed. The story starts out with a simple question, ‘who will win tonight’s game?’ and moves dramatically toward an answer, exploring deeper issues such as the life of academia, marriage and the culture around it. The simple set that consists of two couches and shelves full of liqueur bottles, including the much-familiar Popov vodka, is sufficient enough to convince the audience of the middle-class house setting.

Toward the end, George asks Martha, “Are you tired? I am.” The story is an uneasy one to watch yet it has a strong grip on the audience and leaves them closely engaged for the whole 160 minutes. You will leave the theater shaken and emotionally exhausted from watching one helluva game.