Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Radio review - BBC - "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf" (2004) ***1/2

It's not hard to see the appeal of Edward Albee's play for a certain sort of theatre goer - it has a unique mixture of camp, intensity and ferociousness, as a married couple, George and Martha (well played here by Alex Jennings and Juliet Stevenson) have a go at each other over a few drinks, watched by another couple, Nick and Honey. The latter two are poorly sketched - Nick is some bland stud hunk and Honey is a moronic ninny, perhaps the worst character I can remember in a play that's regarded as a classic.

It's extremely campy - there's references to Bette Davis films, the importance of a good male body and sex, Martha at times seems like a drag queen. You can see why people are always talking about doing an all male version (and also why Albee resisted: the plot about George and Martha's child wouldn't work as well, neither would Martha's status at the college). It's also overlong with an awful lot of repetition. But it's extremely powerful and effective, with some brilliant moments and lines.

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