Edward Albee's classic play Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, starring Kathleen Turner and Bill Irwin, opened its pre-Broadway tryout at the Wilbur Theater in Boston on February 17. It is the only stop that the production, directed by Anthony Page, has before it starts previews at the Longacre Theatre on March 12. Did critics think this Woolf was ready for the big bad world of New York?
Here is a sampling of what they had to say:
Ed Siegel of The Boston Globe: "Perhaps it's because Turner is a natural Martha that she doesn't get under the character's skin. Perhaps it's because Irwin has to work at discovering what makes George carry on in this tormented relationship that he succeeds so well in getting into the nooks and crannies of George's soul… Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? is not only a very entertaining, if hair-raising, comedy of manners, but an investigation of truth and illusion, in and beyond the bedroom. Director Anthony Page's production is particularly good at capturing the comedy of the play, a quality Albee found lacking from Mike Nichols's otherwise excellent film... David Harbour toils to good effect as Nick and Mireille Enos brings a touch of Ophelia whom she played at the Long Wharf Theatre to Honey. But it's on George and Martha's sagging shoulders that the play depends, and it's Irwin who carries it."
Terry Byrne of The Boston Herald: "Albee's masterful play `Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?' demands two actors to dig down, not just to the bone, but as one character says, 'something inside the bone, the marrow, that's what you gotta get at.' Film star Kathleen Turner and New York favorite Bill Irwin, who are starring in the pre-Broadway production of the play now at the Wilbur, only scratch the surface. Without that fearless journey to the marrow, the play's explosive climax arrives not with a bang, but a whimper… George and Martha must keep turning the tables on each other, power must keep shifting and our sense of truth vs. illusion must go in and out of focus. Turner and Irwin don't accomplish any of that. Worse yet, this production offers no sense of George's menace, his dangerous power over both his guests and his wife. Irwin, though tightly coiled, never lets go."
