Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

Steppenwolf Theater
Photo Credit: Michael Brosilow

Let there be no mistake, this is exciting theater.

I've never seen this play before. I hadn't taken the time to read about it and always thought it would be more academic, more literary, more smarty-pants. I didn't realize it was real and gritty and alive and wonderful. I was reminded several times of A Streetcar Named Desire. It had that sort of intensity and those sort of triangulations, even though there were four characters in this, not three.

I intentionally didn't read the program or anything about the play before we saw it, since you only get one chance to see a classic for the first time. I think you should see it as fresh and clear as you possibly can. I can say, it won't be my last time seeing this play. It's a real star vehicle and every time the cast changes it is a new play, to some extent.

Here, at Steppenwolf, we had two great leads: Amy Morton and Tracy Letts playing Martha and George. We stayed after for the discussion and it turns out these two have played husband and wife seven times throughout the years. It showed, I think. The play is, to some degree, about intimacy, old intimacy, and that sort of bond can only make the play stronger.

If you are like me, you may not know what the play is about. George and Martha, a middle-aged couple on a university campus (he's a history professor, she's the daughter of the president of the university) come home from a party at her father's house at 2 a.m. and it turns out she's invited a young professor and his wife over in a few minutes for drinks and conversation. Everyone has already had a few drinks, it's late and the stage is set. We see the details and the workings of both a new marriage and an old marriage in gruesome detail as the night wears on.

This Steppenwolf season is about public vs. private. There is a saying about how you never really know what is going on in a marriage, unless you are in it. After a couple of hours, you really know what is going on in George and Martha's marriage, and maybe even in the younger couples'. George and Martha are happy to have an audience for the showcasing of their marriage. It is something of a battle of wills or, no doubt, a series of games with real winners and losers throughout the evening. With some games, I suppose, you do need an audience to truly declare a winner. Otherwise, who is to say who won?

The games are vicious. The surprise of how vicious they are provides some of the comedy. At first, of course, you think Martha and George have one of the craziest marriages on earth. But, as we all know, marriages are all delicate: all with old hurts, secrets, past betrayals, intimate ties that bind, games and agreements, patterns of relating, faults that are ignored, vices that are constant irritations and a special knowledge of one another. At the beginning, I think, many will find they would rather be part of the younger marriage. But, by the end, an argument could be made for preferring George and Martha's. After all, they truly know one another, their love is real and they both decide to keep showing up.

The play unfolds in three acts. In the first act, George is put on trial and embarrassed. In the second act, he gets even with the guests and puts their marriage on the spot in "Get the Guests." And, Martha fights back with "Hump the Hostess." In the third, George saves his victory, puts an end to their most intimate and important game and perhaps gives them some hope for a future together with less brutal games.

It's quite a ride. We had enough to talk about for hours after the play. There is a repetition and a claustrophobia to the play which can make it seem much longer than it really is.

The only slight weakness of this production was a monologue in the third act. And, we are getting super picky here. We've seen Amy Morton do wonderfully in August: Osage County and here and her strength is playing incredibly well and with energy off of other actors. With no one else in the room, though, the rhythm was broken for a moment.

The dialogue is spicy. So many beautiful words. I can't wait for my next Virginia Woolf, but first I'll let this one settle a bit. After all, you only get to experience it for the first time once.

I warn you, though, in one way it is like Mad Men. You may never want to drink again.