Revision does no service to Nick and Honey

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	• Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Edward Albee NAL Trade, 2006 - 272 pages average customer review:based on 39 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Revision does no service to Nick and Honey

I was shocked to see that the new revision omits the end of Act II, "Walpurgisnacht". George and Honey have a key confrontation. George says "How to you make your secret little murders stud-boy doesn't know about, hunh? Pills? PILLS? You got a secret supply of pills? Or what? Apple-jelly? WILL POWER?"

Several pages are omitted; perhaps Albee wanted to decrease the run-time of the play. I have no idea. The shortening and the omission of key speeches are not worth the addition of the "F" word. Honey and Nick become a less complex and nuanced couple; her participation in secrets and her ambivalence about child-birth and motherhood are, essentially, removed from the text.

It's an unkind cut.

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grand American drama...

If you ever get the chance to see a live production of this classic American drama, run and get your tickets. You will not be disappointed. Edward Albee's drama stands the test of time. George and Martha are in the throes of marriage abyss where the lies, unhappiness and frustration rules the relationship. Theirs is a game not to be played by amateurs, enter Nick and Honey, a young married couple about to get stuck in the web of deceit. The booze flows, the barbs fly and the game is on. This is above all else one of the great dramas of American theatre. I was in a production of this great play a few years back, playing Nick. It was probaly the most challenging play I was ever a part of. To totally divest yourself in it by night's end I was wiped out, emotionally and physically. Awesome experience.

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Marital discontent

We've all been there: writhing with discomfort as guests in someone's home because the host couple can't seem to stop arguing. That's the predicament Nick and Honey find themselves in after stopping over at George and Martha's house for drinks following a party for the college Nick and George teach at (and which Martha's father owns and operates). But this is no petty disagreement that George and Martha are having; Nick and Honey have become unwitting accomplices in the psychological warfare that George and Martha have engaged in after years of bitter disappointment and rivalry. Where it started is left open for interpretation, although it seems that when George and Martha were married George had his eyes on following in his father-in-law's footsteps, and instead found himself hopelessly stuck after failing to move up in his department (to which Martha nastily insinuates that he just didn't have "the STUFF," a multi-pronged jab at George's career, intelligence, and ability to satisfy his wife). But the depths of their unhappiness -- and other possible explanations for it -- are only revealed in layers, with the biggest twist saved for the final minutes of Edward Albee's diabolical gem of a play. And what of the hapless guests, the newlyweds Nick and Honey? They turn out to have some secrets and disappointments of their own that come out in the course of the evening, but it is George and Martha's pathos that claim the spotlight. Their manipulations, lies, insults, and betrayals may be difficult to watch, but "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" is spellbinding drama at its best, and luckily for those of you who haven't seen it performed, the play reads just as well as it plays. I would, however, recommend watching it after you have read it -- even if only as a point of interest, because the roles of George and Martha have inspired many great performances. Kathleen Turner captivated Broadway with her rendition of Martha in 2005, but if you can't get access to a showing the 1966 movie with the inimitable pairing of Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor (with George Segal and Sandy Dennis supporting) is far and away the definitive version. This is not to detract from the written play, of course, just to point out that "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" is that rare play that excells in both formats, and should be experienced accordingly.

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A Tour de Force

I bought this because I keep on getting flashbacks of the play I watched, with the Kathleen Turner and gang revival. Nothing like watching this powerful, brutal and extremely clever play by this master of metaphors - bravo to Albee - on stage...and feel yourself squirming in your seat, yet enjoying every gut-wrenching moment of it. Not for the faint-hearted this. A play written ahead of its time. This is a keeper on my shelves.

Superlative Play, But Which Version?

I won't bother to go into how terrific a play this is (the five stars should indicate that), but having just seen the touring production with Kathleen Turner and Bill Irwin, I have to wonder which version has been published here. The current touring production "is based upon the revised text of 2004" and differs from the original in several significant aspects. Perhaps the most significant change is that the new version never makes it explicit that George is the same character who accidentally killed his own parents--a crucial plot point in the original. Nor do we any longer hear Honey admit that she doesn't want to have children. There are other changes, with several other significant cuts and some rewritten lines here and there. But is this book, which was published in 2006, the "revised" text of 2004 or not? It would be nice to know.

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8

"Twelve times a week," answered Uta Hagen, when asked how often she'd like to play Martha in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Like her, neither audiences nor critics could get enough of Edward Albee's masterful play. A dark comedy, it portrays husband and wife George and Martha in a searing night of dangerous fun and games. By the evening's end, a stunning, almost unbearable revelation provides a climax that has shocked audiences for years. With the play's razor-sharp dialogue and the stripping away of social pretense, Newsweek rightly foresaw Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? as "a brilliantly original work of art-an excoriating theatrical experience, surging with shocks of recognition and dramatic fire [that] will be igniting Broadway for some time to come."

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