Front Row: Honey (Mary Czar), Nick (Zak Zeeks) Back Row: Martha (Valerie Lash). George (Jim Hart).
Photo by Ken Stanek Photography.
Virginia Woolf, the woman after whom Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (now playing at Spotlighters Theatre) was named, was part of the high modernist movement, an artistic community in which writers and artists expressed themselves without necessarily worrying about being understood. While Albee’s play is not stream-of-consciousness, main characters Martha (Valerie Lash) and George (Jim Hart) are playing a game for their guests and the audience that reflects a certain modernist ethos–we don’t have to understand the fight they’re having. We just get to watch it happen.
Set in the early 1960s, Woolf follows a history professor (George) and his wife Martha, the university president’s daughter, who has invited the new biology teacher Nick (Zak Zeeks) and his young wife Honey (Mary Czar) over at 2 am after a party. What follows is a crash course into Martha and George’s not-so-picturesque marriage, complete with fighting, infidelity, domestic abuse, and copious amounts of alcohol. Fortunately (or, perhaps, unfortunately), Nick and Honey’s cookie cutter relationship is not so perfect either.
I have repeatedly noted the challenge Spotlighters faces when it comes to blocking and set design–a theatre in the round has the potential for problems with sight lines and exits. But it also has the opportunity for tremendous verisimilitude, as in the case of this play. We are dropped right into this warring couple’s living room, a place where greens and browns dominate. Bookcases and framed diplomas line the walls, while in the far corner sits a table with glass decanters filled with amber liquid. Next to the table is a globe that, fascinatingly enough, opens to reveal a bar–the perfect addition to any academic’s home. There are a number of elegant glass ashtrays on the coffee and end tables, and a metal cigarette case. As in many productions, the smoking of stage cigarettes fills the air with the smell of burning leaves.
Director Fuzz Roark has put together a really fantastic show and a fascinating look into the human condition.
Laura Nicholson’s costume design characterizes everyone as much as dialogue or expression. Honey, for example, is dressed in a white gown resembling a prom dress, with her hair in a ponytail with two curls, one on either side of her face, like a cheerleader’s. While her husband Nick is in a three-piece suit, George wears a sweater vest, reflecting both his age and perhaps his disinclination to make any kind of impression. Martha, on the other hand, upon returning home and shedding her fur stole, changes into a sparkling black dress with a remarkably low neckline–reflecting her intention to make an entirely different sort of impression.
Sustaining a three-hour epic with only four people is impossible without exceptional acting and directing. Hart conveys a sort of neurotic authenticity that is in stark contrast with Lash’s strange combo of viciousness and vivacity–they make a fascinating duo. Perhaps most touching is Mary Czar’s turn as Honey. The character seems, for a large portion of the play, like a classic airhead, constantly giggling, oblivious to the chaos occurring around her. But, in the end, she is the true innocent victim–of her husband’s loose mouth and ambition, of the pointed barbs of those smarter than she.
Director Fuzz Roark has put together a really fantastic show and a fascinating look into the human condition.
Running Time: Approximately 3 hours, with two intermissions.
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? is running through October 6, 2013 at Spotlighters Theatre, 817 St. Paul Street, Baltimore, MD 21202. For reservations call 410-752-1225 or click here.
