Plays 52 - Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? by Edward Albee

Here's the first review of my 'Plays 52' project. If you'd like to see the full list of plays follow this link.

1. Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? - Edward Albee

Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? asks the question; how does one mourn the loss of a child who never existed and the loss of one's own life lived in the shadow of this? It also speaks to the wider changing social mores of the mid-twentieth century. The events of the play occur over one night in the lives of George and Martha, a middle-aged couple seemingly at the end of their tether.

George and Martha have just returned from a party which has been organised by her father, the principal and apparent owner of a New England university. A few barbed comments fly between them, laced with a genuine affection that it seems almost pains them to let escape. So begins the play that is tinged with a sense of personal tragedy and missed opportunities, the natures of which emerge via the stories told to two young guests.

It turns out, much to George's annoyance, that Martha has invited a young couple, Honey and Nick, that they met at the party back to their house. Nick is a biology teacher who's fairly new in town and Honey is his wife, the daughter of a semi-famous evangelist. As the night draws on and more and more alcohol is consumed, the two couples begin to reveal stories about their pasts that they might not otherwise share - so the dual nature of alcohol, as an agent of truth and as a catalyst for destruction is apparent. It also becomes clear that an all too familiar game is being played out between George and Martha, who's marriage is tinged with bitterness and resentment.

At the culmination of Act I, Honey is literally removed from the action as she becomes sick - suggestive of her innocent nature and perhaps incorruptibility - her body removes the poison from itself, and itself from a poisonous situation. Even when she is intoxicated, her drunkenness is rather playful and childlike - singing "Who's afraid of Virginia Woolf?" and giggling. Her drunkenness also has a dual nature as it shows how she is drinking to merely please others; she confesses that she rarely drinks, and also that she is using the drink to shield herself from the hostility of the situation. This innocence also casts a large shadow over the play, and makes the revelation concerning her 'phantom' pregnancy at the end of Act II all the more anguishing.

One character who is never seen but represents a seam of tension running through the play is that of George and Martha's 'son'. The tone of voice and manner in which information about him is delivered immediately creates a sense of tension and foreboding. George and Martha engage in a sort of two-way baiting and pleading, in which George begs her not to bring 'that' up. The ultimate truth about their son cements the fact that they have remained together in spite of not being able to have children - there is an implication that Honey had an abortion, before her and Nick were married, although this is not entirely explicit it adds a sense of tragedy to the suffering of George and Martha.

One can almost see a direct parallel between the two couples, and in a sense the younger pair are seeing a possible future for themselves, which draws out a sense of horror. The night unfolds with a sense of inevitability, a sense that this is a game that has been played out before, a game that George is not enthusiastic about playing, yet knows somehow that he must, thus acting as a self fulfilling prophecy to his notion that people do not learn from history.

In the final act of the play, George reveals that their 'son' has been 'killed' in an automobile accident on a quiet country road. This point echoes and also casts doubt on an earlier tale that George was regaling to Nick. The tale about a boy who accidentally killed both his parents, upon which George apparently based a novel. It remains a mystery as to whether the boy was George.

At the climax of the play, Nick makes explicit that which has been implicit throughout - that George and Martha never could have children. So it is a kind of exorcism that George has carried out with him revealing their son's death. The couple are left alone at the end, finally able to mourn their inability to have children and perhaps more importantly, they are free to mourn their own lives lived in the shadows of this and other failures. There is still a sense of doubt though, and one wonders what will happen next, whether they will learn from their own histories.