WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF

 

RTC staged an incredible production of Edward Albee's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf from 1/29 - 2/22/09, closing today. I am sure it will remain one of my biggest regrets that I did not make it out to RTC for this show, from everything I read and heard, it was wonderful, and I am sure I missed something very special, but time and airfare just did not allow me to witness it in person. Knowing the talents Karyl Lynn and Joe possess firsthand, I never doubted that it could be anything else than spectacular. Should they decide to extend or restage this show, I will be there will bells on! In the meantime, I am going to leave these spectacular reviews and pictures up as a reminder to all that great theatre must be treasured by all of us.

SEE THE FULL REVIEWS THAT ARE QUOTED HERE BELOW:

LAST CHANCE TO SEE
THE ACCLAIMED PRODUCTION
CRITICS ARE SAYING WILL BE TALKED
ABOUT DECADES FROM NOW!
“One of the year’s outstanding achievements”
“See it before it vanishes!”
Sold-out for Saturday and Sunday. Tickets still available for Friday.
Call (805) 667-2900 Now before it’s too late!


CRITIC’S PICK!…a VIBRANT and THOUGHT-PROVOKING revisit to Edward Albee’s 1962 MASTERPIECE…a PROFOUND rumination on self-delusion. The Rubicon production is blessed by a PITCH-PERFECT four-member ensemble that mines the fertile script for its full measure of STINGING HUMOR and GUT-WRENCHING EMOTIONAL POWER. It’s clear from the outset that Karyl Lynn Burns as Martha and Joe Spano as George put their own stamps on the roles while remaining true to the intrinsic cadences in Albee’s REMARKABLE DIALOGUE. Spano’s journey from an intellectual snob and humiliated husband to a bloodthirsty tiger, hell-bent on revenge, is MASTERFULLY ACHIEVED. Burns walks a tightrope between vulgar shrew and emotionally tortured child-woman, ILLUMINATING BOTH SIDES OF MARTHA’s psyche, allowing us to care for this braying alcoholic even as she reviled us. These actors forge a FINELY CALIBRATED CHEMISTRY THAT BEAUTIFULLY SERVES THE SCRIPT’S GRIPPING CRESCENDOS, STARTLING CLIMAX AND CATHARTIC DENOUEMENT.  Jason Chanos EXCELS at balancing the cocky opportunism and spark of human decency in Nick, while Angela Goethals subtly offers a REVELATORY PORTRAIT of the broken soul behind Honey’s giddy exterior. Tom Giamario’s MAJESTIC yet oppressive set and atmospheric lighting are SUPERBLY RENDERED – as are the costumes, designed by Marcy Froehlich.”
– Backstage West

Joe Spano and Karyl Lynn Burns are quietly and noisily DEVASTATING, respectively. Jason Chanos and Angela Goethals are equally MESMERIZING as the younger couple. It’s TRANSFIXING in a way that the oversized Ahmanson Theatre’s 2007 revival never was. SEE IT before it vanishes into the past!” 
– LA City Beat/Valley Beat

PEOPLE WILL BE TALKING ABOUT THIS NEW RUBICON PRODUCTION DECADES FROM NOW. Karyl Lynn Burns gets all of the amazing, incorrigible Martha dialogue, and Joe Spano is MESMERIZING in what has to be one of the greatest performances of the role of George ever. Jason Chanos is SHARP and CONVINCING as Nick, and Angela Goethals is TERRIFIC. Spano and Burns are GREAT SPARRING PARTNERS, and THEIR REPARTEE LIGHTS UP THE STAGE FROM THE OPENING BELL. Sullivan has brought off ANOTHER TRIUMPH, and this ought to be seen as ONE OF THE YEAR’S OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENTS.”
– The Independent

“…an ELECTRIFYING production directed by Jenny Sullivan. It offers altogether COMPELLING LESSONS ON LIFE AND LOVE, serving them up in a staccato rhythm of WIT and PATHOS that makes for AN ENGROSSING EVENING and a TRUE THEATRICAL ADVENTURE…DEEPLY COMPELLING…Joe Spano’s George, who, just when he seems beaten, can roar like a lion…Karyl Lynn Burns’ Martha and her rapier tongue, flitting from social sadist to crafty coquette and back again…a love story from start to finish, offering us a look into a ‘dark glass’ that reflects our own lives and loves.”
– The Reporter

A ROUSING REVIVAL…INVIGORATING…Albee’s play, which won a Tony Award in 1963, demands performers with a complete absence of vanity, and both lead actors are more than game. As Martha, daughter of the town’s university president, Burns is…MAGNIFICENT TO BEHOLD…more Elizabeth Taylor than Kathleen Turner…she’s a vicious animal with a raucous howl. Spano gives this “Woolf” A SHARP SET OF DRAMATIC FANGS…showing the damage that years of bitter feuding can inflict on the body. Director Jenny Sullivan brings REMARKABLE LUCIDITY to the play’s alcoholic haze.”
LA Times

“...a FLAWLESS production of one of the most famed and discussed plays of the second half of the 20th Century. Burns captures Martha’s earthy sensuality, and her vulnerability. It is SUPERB, three-dimensional work. Opposite Burns is the EQUALLY MEMORABLE Joe Spano, recent WINNER of the Ovation Award for Best Leading Actor. Nick and Honey are IMPECCABLY PERFORMED here by Jason Chanos and Angela Goethals…Under Jenny Sullivan’s ASSURED DIRECTION, the play SCORES FULL MARKS for both for its comic and tragic elements. Rubicon’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? is once again proof that the region’s professional theatre company is one that Ventura and surrounding communities can indeed be proud of… well worth driving up from Los Angeles to see … and savor.…”
– StageSceneLA 

“PERFECTLY DIRECTED from the opening cackling laughter to the smooth cast curtain calls. [Joe] Spano is SUPERB. Martha is EXCELLENTLY PORTRAYED by Karyl Lynn Burns. Head for the Rubicon for this gut-wrenching play.”
– Vida

 


“Tom Giamario’s SPLENDID SET for Rubicon Theatre Company provides the claustrophobic background for relentless sparring punctuated by knockout punches. Burns finds in the boozing, brawling, braying Martha a role that allows her to strip away vestiges of charm and replace them with the FIERCE POWER of one who rules her roost. But she never loses sight of the fact that the brassy role she plays is a façade, as do the other characters, who present to be what they think will bring them success, however fleetingly defined.. Underneath the hardened exterior, BURNS FINDS LAYERS OF DOUBT and VULNERABILITY that peel away throughout the three-act endurance meet. Her Martha can laugh and swear in huge swaths, but beneath it all she is still Daddy’s little girl. She wants more, and perhaps George can help her find it once they shatter their carefully constructed illusions. Spano’s George is the opposite of the bold warrior Martha fancies she wants, with his bookish cynicism and suppressed emotions. RAPIER THRUSTS throughout are FUELED BY A FIERCE INTELLIGENCE. Director Jenny Sullivan and her cast come to grips with the desperation, finding PINPOINTS OF LIGHT WITHIN THE DARKNESS OF NIGHT.”
– Ventura County Star

 

1006 E Main Street Ventura CA United States, 93001

Below are some of the complete reviews quoted in the e-blast above:

VIRGINIA WOOLF IS A BACKSTAGE CRITIC'S PIC!!!

http://www.backstage.com/bso/news_reviews/la/review_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003938303


LOS ANGELES THEATRE REVIEWS

 
   
 
 
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?


February 04, 2009
Reviewed by Les Spindle
Familiarity needn't breed contempt when it comes to new productions of frequently mounted American classics. Without reinventing the wheel, director Jenny Sullivan brings us a vibrant and thought-provoking revisit to Edward Albee's 1962 masterpiece, still a biting dissection of a toxic marriage and a profound rumination on the self-delusions that can cripple our lives. The Rubicon production is blessed by a pitch-perfect four-member ensemble that mines the fertile script for its full measure of stinging humor and gut-wrenching emotional power.

Many viewers will be familiar with the indelible turns by Richard Burton and Oscar winner Elizabeth Taylor in Mike Nichols' acclaimed 1966 film adaptation. In this rendition, it’s clear from the outset that Karyl Lynn Burns, as Martha, and Joe Spano, as George, are putting their own stamps on the roles while remaining true to the intrinsic cadences in Albee's remarkable dialogue. Thankfully, these actors avoid a pitfall that sometimes mars interpretations of these roles: starting at too high a pitch and having nowhere to go. Starting when George and Martha, obviously tipsy, arrive home late at night from a college-campus party and quickly establish a contentious bond by way of petty bickering, Burns and Spano create a solid foundation for what's to follow, allowing the nuances of characterization to build at a natural pace. Spano's journey from an emotionally distant intellectual snob and humiliated husband to a bloodthirsty tiger, hell-bent on revenge, is masterfully achieved. Burns walks a tightrope between vulgar shrew and emotionally tortured child-woman, illuminating both sides of Martha's psyche, allowing us to care for this braying alcoholic even as she reviles us. These actors forge a finely calibrated chemistry that beautifully serves the script's gripping crescendos, startling climax, and cathartic denouement.

As the young visitors who get more than they bargained for at the post-party get-together, Jason Chanos excels at balancing the cocky opportunism and spark of human decency in Nick, while Angela Goethals subtly offers a revelatory portrait of the broken soul behind Honey's giddy exterior. Tom Giamario's majestic yet oppressive set and atmospheric lighting are superbly rendered -- as are the costumes, designed by Marcy Froehlich.


Presented by and at the Rubicon Theatre,

1006 E. Main St., Ventura.

Jan. 31–Feb. 22. Wed., 2 and 7 p.m.; Thu.–Fri., 8 p.m.; Sat., 2 and 8 p.m.; Sun., 2 p.m.

(805) 667-2900 or Rubicon Theatre


http://www.vcreporter.com/cms/story/detail/through_a_glass_darkly/6657/


Through a glass, darkly

Woolf’s passion rocks the Rubicon

By James Scolari 02/05/2009

1 Corinthians has much to say on the subject of love; indeed, the well-known verse may be among the most popular of wedding readings, with its timeless refrain of “Love is patient, love is kind,” perfect for newlyweds, poised on the threshold of love and 

marriage. The wisdom of the scripture also shows us that love can be a travail, as the weight of years accrues and bears down, battering hopes and dreams, if not crushing them outright. Yet through such dark times, our endurance is often born of love, even if it offers what can seem a poor reflection of its original promise, a view “through a glass, darkly,” in the famous verse’s terms.
Edward Albee knew something about darkness and love when he penned Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf, his celebrated drama that bows this month at Ventura’s Rubicon Theatre in an electrifying production directed by Jenny Sullivan. The play has enjoyed multiple runs on Broadway, garnering numerous Tony awards, and the 1966 Mike Nichols film was honored with four Oscars®. While lauded, the work has also met with controversy; Albee’s play was selected for the 1963 Pulitzer Prize for drama, but the award’s trustees objected to the play’s themes and profanity, and subsequently no Prize was awarded in that year. By the same token, the film is credited with being responsible for Jack Valenti’s creation of the MPAA film rating system that largely endures to this day.

Woolf centers around a mediocre academic — George — whose life and career seem to be circling the drain. The fact is rendered inescapable as it’s underscored — even commemorated — by his wife Martha’s unrelenting, caustic commentary on the matter. When a young professor and his wife accept Martha’s invitation for late evening drinks after a faculty mixer, they get far more than they bargained for in their hosts’ bitter, no-holds-barred repartee that ultimately smashes such social niceties as propriety and dignity and brings all of them in turn to their knees.

While the couple is styled after real-world Albee acquaintances, a New York socialite couple whose marathon alcoholic salons were legendary in their day, the couple’s namesakes are thought to obviously be the nation’s “first couple,” George and Martha Washington. Such radical restyling of the parents of our nation, in such a thoroughly dark and contemporary idiom, can, in retrospect, be seen as a most cogent preview of the social explosion that was to follow.

Virginia Woolf is challenging theater, to be sure — peppered as it is with coarse language and social savagery; and though it’s liberally laced with wry humor, it’s not for the faint of heart. Yet in challenging times – either those for which it was first intended or to this very day it offers altogether compelling lessons on life and love, serving them up in a staccato rhythm of wit and pathos that makes for an engrossing evening and a true theatrical adventure.

“When you come into the theater,” celebrated playwright David Mamet noted, “you have to be willing to say, ‘We’re here to undergo a communion, to find out what the hell is going on in this world.’ If you’re not willing to say that, what you get is entertainment instead of art, and poor entertainment at that.” Mamet could well have been speaking of the deeply compelling art of this production: of Joe Spano’s George, who, just when he seems beaten, can roar like a lion; of Karyl Lynn Burns’ Martha and her rapier tongue, flitting from social sadist to crafty coquette and back again; of Jason Chanos’ and Angela Goethal’s turns as the unwitting playmates Nick and Honey, who prove to be altogether more than fodder for Martha’s dark social grist.

While the work feels contemporary, the themes are old, indeed it’s been more than 150 years since Thoreau noted, “The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation. An unconscious despair is concealed even under what are called the games and amusements of mankind.” Thoreau would have recognized well the games of George and Martha for what they were, and yet they are not without love — and therein lies the heart of the matter, for Virgina Woolf is a love story from start to finish, offering us a look into a ‘dark glass’ that reflects our own lives and loves. As we find in that glass, and in each of our own hearts, an echo of George, Martha, Nick and even Honey, perhaps we also might hear once again the refrain of 1 Corinthians, “If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, but have not love, I am nothing.” In the end, no matter the indignation and woe, it’s love by which George and Martha are redeemed, and it’s by that same measure that we all, sooner or later, must stand.   

Through Feb. 22, at the Rubicon Theatre, 1006 E. Main St., Ventura. 667-2900, www.rubicontheater.org.

 

CROSSING THE RUBICON 

by Paul Sisolak
paul@vcreporter.com

artTen years ago, when a married couple entrenched in the world of theater decided to found their own production company in Ventura, they looked no further than the stage for some well-meaning inspiration; namely, Julius Caesar.

Karyl Lynn Burns and Jim O’Neill knew the legendary commander’s Shakespearean trek across the famed Italian tributary — it’s become that catch-all for reaching that point of no return, the edge of the precipice — was where they’d soon be poised, when converting the former church on the corner of Main and Laurel streets into a community theater.

Appropriately enough, the duo named their performance company the Rubicon, and hasn’t looked back since. “It was at that time we decided the timing was right to start something we could do on our own,” O’Neill recalls.

Today, the Rubicon remains the only professional theater company in Ventura County and celebrates its first full decade without too much fanfare. Despite its typically modest approach, there’s no denying that the Rubicon’s influence has reached even beyond the Ventura County border.

The Los Angeles Stage Alliance awarded the Rubicon four Ovation awards (the Southern California equivalent of a Tony) in November, recognizing the theater across the board for production, acting, set design and original musical content. It received a total of 17 nominations.

The accolades from L.A. weren’t part of an isolated event. The Rubicon has seemingly enjoyed an inordinate amount of success in L.A. while removed far enough from the confines of the big city. The key? Their influence, says John Hankins, vice president of the Ojai Arts Center Theater (ACT).

“What’s nice about them is that they’re very inspiring for community theaters,” he said. “Their choice of plays is also very good. They can get very edgy also by taking a chance. From that standpoint, they’re a beacon of light for live theater.”

So if local theater troupes are keeping an eye on the Rubicon for inspiration, they would be keen to note the company’s upcoming production of Fiddler on the Roof, which O’Neill will direct. It follows a lineup of challenging plays that have run in the current season, “O Brave New World,” which has included productions of The Spin Cycle, Will Rogers’ America and currently Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf.

It also indicates that while the theater, like almost every other entertainment outlet, is challenged by poor economics, it thankfully still thrives. The Rubicon’s growth has been steady, its full-scale productions demanding; last year’s budget topped $3.5 million, 10 times the theater’s fledgling first-year operating costs of $350,000.

Does this mean the Rubicon is getting too big for the former house of worship where it resides? No, says O’Neill. Despite the buzz in local theater circles, the Rubicon won’t be looking to relocate. According to O’Neill, it comes down to one part practicality, one part nostalgia. “We don’t think the space we have is too small for some things,” he said. “We would never think about getting away from the Rubicon. There’s something very special inhabiting that space.”

However, O’Neill adds, as a way of expanding the existing business model, the Rubicon is in search of a second, additional theater space to supplement the longstanding Main Street venue. No location has yet been determined.

According to Burns, this step-up professionally was also foreshadowed in the introduction of the company’s first full-time managing director. Ken Wesler was hired at the beginning of the New Year.

For Burns, fertilizing Ventura County’s cultural landscape is as important as the company’s own success. “Our focus has always been art and community. As we move into the second decade, we are trying to grow Rubicon as a permanent community institution. We hope to continue to provide diverse theatrical offerings, landmark events and education and outreach programs for many years to come,” she said.    

For more info on the Rubicon Theater Company, its schedule, classes, and how to donate, visit www.rubicontheatre.org.

http://www.lacitybeat.com/cms/story/detail/currently_playing_february_19_2009/8020/


Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Joe Spano and Karyl Lynn Burns are quietly and noisily devastating, respectively, as the warring George and Martha in Edward Albee’s classic, directed by Jenny Sullivan. Jason Chanos and Angela Goethals are equally mesmerizing as the younger couple. It’s transfixing in a way that the oversized Ahmanson Theatre’s 2007 revival never was. Rubicon Theatre, 1006 E. Main St., Ventura. (805) 667-2900. rubicontheatre.org. Wed., 2 and 7 p.m.; Thurs. Fri., 8 p.m.; Sat., 2 and 8 p.m.; Sun. 2 p.m.$20-$52. Closes Sun., Feb. 22.

Published: 02/18/2009



http://stagescenela.com/html/who_s_afraid_of_virginia_woolf.html




The Rubicon Theatre’s production of Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid Of Virginia Woolf is one that I have been eagerly awaiting since it was first announced as part of the Rubicon’s 2008-9 season, and to end any suspense, let me say right away that this Virginia Woolf does not disappoint. It is a flawless production of one of the most famed and discussed plays of the second half of the 20th Century, the tale of one drunken evening at the home of college Assistant Professor George and his wife Martha, and their two young late night guests.

The reason I was (and still am) so excited about this production is its star, the divine Karyl Lynn Burns.

Unlike the actresses who have preceded her in the role of Martha (Uta Hagen, Mercedes McCambridge, Elaine Stritch, Coleen Dewhurst, and the film’s Elizabeth Taylor), Burns is nothing at all like the ballsy ball-breaker Martha, and none of the abovementioned actresses has likely ever been referred to as a “ray of sunshine,” an absolutely apt description for the incandescent Karyl Lynn. Seeing Kathleen Turner play the role two years ago (and she was great, make no mistake), I couldn’t help feeling that playing Martha was not much of a stretch for the 2005 Tony nominee.

Burns’ tour de force performance a few years back in the two-act one-actor Shirley Valentine proved that the Rubicon’s Producing Artistic Director can do anything, bringing to vivid life not only Shirley herself but all the people in the English housewife’s life, including the handsome Greek she falls in love with on a trip to the Aegean. 

Her Martha is further proof.

From Burns’ first entrance and her “Jesus H. Christ!” in a voice nothing like her own, indeed braying the words as husband George later accuses her of doing, to her first “goddamn,” to her first “FUCK YOU!” (the all caps are Albee’s), this is the playwright’s loud, vulgar, drunken Martha through and through. Burns also captures Martha’s earthy sensuality, and her vulnerability.  It is superb, three-dimensional work.

Opposite Burns is the equally memorable Joe Spano, recent winner of the Ovation Award for Best Leading Actor for his performance as F. Buckminster Fuller at the Rubicon a year ago. Where Martha is in-your-face, Assistant Professor George (accent on the word assistant) scarcely raises his voice, except when Martha’s verbal poisoned daggers hit their target and he explodes, in one instance smashing a liquor bottle against a wall. Though buying Spano as mid-forties stretches the imagination, it is not at all difficult to believe that this is a man whose life came to a standstill years ago, a man who has been stuck in a hellish rut ever since.

Publicity for the Rubicon production “cordially” invites guests “to George and Martha’s for an evening of fun and games,” but beware, these are not your usual party games, though there is a great deal of liquor imbibed, a great deal indeed.  Martha taunts George for being a “great big fat flop,” for being “in the History Department ... as opposed to being the History Department,” all the more disappointing as Martha’s father is the college President. Later, she refuses to be silenced about George’s unpublished novel, the story of “a naughty boychild … who killed his mother and his father dead” (which may or may not be George’s own story), causing husband to grab wife by the throat and nearly strangle her.  The final, most destructive game is “Bringing Up Baby,” but to say more would be to reveal too much information to anyone seeing Who’s Afraid Of Virginia Woolf for the first time.

George and Martha’s games are reserved not just for themselves but for their guests as well.  Handsome young Nick and his mousy wife Honey get their fair share of their hosts’ cruelty, the visitors’ level of intoxication soon matching George and Martha’s. There’s Nick’s revelation of the supposed pregnancy  which led to their precipitous marriage and later turned out to be one of the “hysterical” variety, a fact he later humiliates his wife with in front of their hosts.  Martha has her own game in mind for Nick, one involving the seduction of this studly young faculty newbie, smack dab in her husband’s face.

The roles of Nick and Honey are impeccably performed here by Jason Chanos and Angela Goethals. Chanos, making a welcome return to the Rubicon following his sexy cowpoke in last year’s Bus Stop, is a Nick who grows in intensity and power. and ends up giving as good as he gets.  Goethals, an Antaeus Company favorite, is a fine choice for Honey, starting out all mousy near invisibility and gradually (with the help of alcohol) revealing the pain under Honey’s placid surface.

For a play as deadly serious as Who’s Afraid Of Virginia Woolf is, there are enough laughs to classify it as almost a black comedy.  Almost. And under Jenny Sullivan’s assured direction, the play scores full marks both for its comic and tragic elements.

Thomas S. Giamario’s wow of a set is a finely detailed reproduction of an East Coast college prof’s living room, with books stacked the proverbial “mile high,” and his lighting subtly emphasizes the mood shifts of Albee’s opus.  Marcy Froehich’s costumes are just right for each character and for the play’s early 60s setting, with a particular tip of the hat for Martha’s blousy costume changes. David Beaudry’s sound design is equally fine.

If there’s anything to complain about (and Albee aficionados may cry “Sacrilege!”), a three-hour play, even one as compelling as this, is still three hours long, and that’s, well, a bit long.  End of complaint.

The Rubicon’s Who’s Afraid Of Virginia Woolf is once again proof that “the region’s professional theatre company” is one that Ventura and surrounding communities can indeed be proud of.  This is a production that is well worth driving up from Los Angeles to see … and savor.

Rubicon Theatre, 1006 E. Main Street, Ventura. Through February 22. Wednesdays at 2:00 and 7:00, Thursdays and Fridays at 8:00, Saturdays at 2:00 and 8:00, Sundays at 2:00. Reservations: 805 667-2900   www.rubicontheatre.org

--Steven Stanley
February 1, 2009
                                                                 Photos: Rod Lathim

http://www.independent.com/news/2009/feb/05/whos-afraid-virginia-woolf-rubicon-theatre/



Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
at the Rubicon Theatre

Albee Classic Shines as Directed by Jenny Sullivan


Thursday, February 5, 2009

By Charles Donelan

The director of this production, Jenny Sullivan, spoke for a few moments before the start of the show about seeing the original production of Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? on Broadway with her father in 1962, when she was just 16 years old. Regardless of how one feels about the parental judgment involved in this adventure, there's no question that this was a play that changed many lives; those lucky enough to attend it were witnesses to theater history.

There's a good chance people will be talking about this new Rubicon production decades from now as well. Karyl Lynn Burns gets all of the amazing, incorrigible Martha dialogue, and Joe Spano is mesmerizing in what has to be one of the greatest performances of the role of George ever. Jason Chanos is sharp and convincing as Nick, the young biologist and stud who Martha sets her sights on, and Angela Goethals is terrific as Honey, his “wifey mouse.”

Click to enlarge photo

Rubicon Theatre presents Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

Despite the fact that this is one of the best-known American plays of all time, it is probably only fair to give potential audience members an idea of what to expect. One can only imagine what it must have been like back in 1962 for the small handful of people who arrived at the theater without the slightest preconception of what they were about to see. The entire play takes place in the living room of a book-filled old house on the campus of a New England college. The action takes place late at night—it’s after 2 a.m. when things get rolling, and they keep at it until dawn. Martha’s father is the president of the college, and she is used to getting things, including the copious amounts of alcohol she consumes, mostly her way. George, at first shocked that Martha has invited the younger couple over for a nightcap, gradually warms to the situation and in the end serves as the evening’s impresario, identifying and initiating many of the games that get 
played as things go from bad to worse.

Albee has made it clear that this three-hour, three-act drama is to be seen as a love story rather than a tragedy, and, for most of the first two acts, the cast plays it for laughs. Spano and Burns are great sparring partners, and their repartee lights up the stage from the opening bell. The guests are very nearly as effective, especially when Goethals is called upon to give one of Honey’s hysterically funny physical turns. Sullivan has brought off another triumph, and this ought to be seen as one of the year’s outstanding achievements.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/culturemonster/2009/02/review-whos-afr.html



Culture Monster: All the Arts, All the Time

Review: 'Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf' at the Rubicon

2:30 PM, February 3, 2009

The growling “Hey!” that Martha uses to summon her husband, George, in the Rubicon Theatre Company’s production of “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” is a guttural noise choked with savagery and a thick smoker’s phlegm. An emasculating sound if ever one existed, her bark is the recurring audio motif of this rousing revival, which brings an invigorating if sometimes strained animalism to Edward Albee’s classic vivisection of WASP marriage.

Joe Spano and Karyl Lynn Burns play the unhappily married academic couple who spend one very long night (and part of the next morning) clawing at each for the benefit of their stunned houseguests, the younger married couple Nick (Jason Chanos) and Honey (Angela Goethals).

For nearly three hours, the play’s quartet of marital misery swerves drunkenly through an obstacle course of accusation, recrimination and infidelity -- ending up on the other side of twilight emotionally bruised and concussed, not to mention seriously hung over.

Albee’s play, which won a Tony Award in 1963, demands performers with a complete absence of vanity, and both lead actors are more than game. As Martha, daughter of the town’s university president, Burns is a frumpy witch whose power to insult is both unattractive and magnificent to behold.

Physically, her Martha is more Elizabeth Taylor than Kathleen Turner -- a stout, curly-haired brunet with a middle-age spread -- but deep down, she’s a vicious animal with a raucous howl. The actress ratchets up the delivery to foghorn levels, and you can’t help fearing for her vocal cords.

Still, it’s Spano, as deceptively meek history professor George, who gives this “Woolf” a sharp set of dramatic fangs. His stealth approach to marital warfare is all bite and very little bark. The actor underplays almost every move and even flirts (deliberately or not) with inaudibility.

Spano is perhaps too old to play George -- the character is supposed to be six years Martha’s junior -- but the actor uses his age to remarkable advantage, showing the damage that years of bitter feuding can inflict on the body.

Director Jenny Sullivan brings remarkable lucidity to the play’s alcoholic haze, but she often allows the bestial impulses in a scene to peak too early, leaving the actors with nowhere to go except over the top. Even by Martha’s hammy tendencies, this “Woolf” could stand to take it down a notch or two.

In a clever wink to the never-seen character of Martha’s father, set designer Tom Giamario has installed a stately portrait of the old man at stage center. Martha (who rivals only Hedda Gabler in her all-consuming worship of her father) doesn’t explicitly acknowledge the painting, but its presence seeps through the play like the contents of a cyanide capsule.

The production sneakily implies that the instigating spark of the marital conflagration didn’t come from George or Martha, but from daddy dearest himself.

-- David Ng

“Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” Rubicon Theatre, 1006 E. Main Street, Ventura. 7 p.m., Wednesdays; 8 p.m., Thursdays through Saturdays; 2 p.m., Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays. Ends Feb. 22. $29-$52. (805) 667-2900. Running time: 3 hours, 15 minutes.

Caption: From left, Jason Chanos, Angela Goethals, Karyl Lynn Burns and Joe Spano in "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" Credit: Rod Lathim

 

 

http://www.venturacountystar.com/news/2009/feb/06/emotional-battlefield-verbal-warfare-is-fierce/


An emotional battlefield in Rubicon's 'Woolf'

Verbal warfare gets fierce and furious


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Courtesy of Rod Lathim As Nick (Jason Chanos) and Honey (Angela Goethals) look on at left, Martha (Karyl Lynn Burns) lashes out at her husband, George (Joe Spano), in Rubicon Theatre Company’s production of “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?”

 

Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

Rubicon Theatre Company’s production of Edward Albee’s Tony Award-winning play will run through Feb. 22 at 1006 E. Main St., Ventura. Showtimes are 2 and 7 p.m. Wednesdays, 8 p.m. Thursdays and Fridays, 2 and 8 p.m. Saturdays, and 2 p.m. Sundays. The production is rated R for adult themes and language; children younger than 17 must be accompanied by, or bring written consent from, an adult. Tickets cost $42-$52 for general admission and $20 for students with ID; $5 discount for seniors 65 and older. Call 667-2900 or visit http://www.rubicontheatre.org.

From pinpricks to bazooka blasts, the protagonists in Edward Albee’s “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” are armed for lethal battle. Words are the medium for most of the mayhem, and Tom Giamario’s splendid set for Rubicon Theatre Company provides the claustrophobic background for relentless sparring punctuated by knockout punches.

Rubicon’s combatants are Karyl Lynn Burns as Martha, the faculty wife whose father heads the university, and Joe Spano as George, who hasn’t risen in his teaching career the way Martha had envisioned when she married him. Observers and peripheral game players are Jason Chanos as Nick, a buoyant new biology professor, and Angela Goethals as Honey, his bland wife. The couples are brought together when Martha invites the younger pair home after a faculty get-together. The encounter begins after midnight and continues through a long night’s journey into day.

Burns, who is also co-founder and artistic producing director of Rubicon, finds in the boozing, brawling, braying Martha a role that allows her to strip away vestiges of charm and replace them with the fierce power of one who rules her roost. But she never loses sight of the fact that the brassy role she plays is a facade, as do the other characters, who pretend to be what they think will bring them success, however fleetingly defined. Underneath the hardened exterior, Burns finds layers of doubt and vulnerability that peel away throughout the three-act endurance meet. Her Martha can laugh and swear in huge swaths, but beneath it all she is still 

Daddy’s little girl. She wants more, and perhaps George can help her find it once they shatter their carefully constructed illusions.

Spano’s George is the opposite of the bold warrior Martha fancies she wants, with his bookish cynicism and suppressed emotions. He has learned to compete by countering her flamboyance with his subversive terrorism. Rapier thrusts throughout are fueled by a fierce intelligence.

In the round-robin game of mutual humiliation, Chanos’ Nick and Goethals’ Honey are a parallel couple with some of the same frailties as Martha and George, and fewer of their strengths. Chanos easily slips into the role of the self-involved biology teacher who isn’t fazed by the prospect that  he’ll need to get down and dirty to get ahead. In fact, Nick feels he’s got the goods:

He’s blond, blue-eyed and not averse to using what he has to get where he wants to go. Chanos is very good at moving from amiable to nonplussed and from overconfident to beaten down.

As the hapless Honey, Goethals plays the most clueless of the bunch, a pathetic patch of neuroses hidden beneath a prim exterior. All four of the combatants are fueled by enough booze to make any conversation reckless to the point of incoherence.

Martha and George have enough smarts and guts to engage each other, even while their emotions are scraped raw. When they rip away their illusions, they at least come to a place from which they can rebuild if they haven’t totally exhausted their resources in getting there.

Albee’s play is bleak, spun from a view that there’s no gain without copious pain. Director Jenny Sullivan and her cast come to grips with the desperation, finding pinpoints of light within the darkness of night.

— E-mail Rita Moran at ritamoran@earthlink.net.

 

January 29 - February 22, 2009

[ Reserve Tickets l Calendar l Study Guide ]

Directed by Rubicon Artistic Associate Jenny Sullivan

Featuring Karyl Lynn Burns, Jason Chanos, Angela Goethals
and Emmy Award-winner Joe Spano

George, a disillusioned academic, and Martha, his caustic wife, have just come home from a faculty party. When a handsome young professor and his mousy wife stop by for a nightcap, an innocent night of fun and games quickly turns dark and dangerous. Long-buried resentments are unleashed as George and Martha turn their rapier-sharp wits against each other, using their guests as pawns in their verbal sparring. By night's end, the secrets of both couples are uncovered and the lies they cling to are exposed. Considered by many to be Albee's masterpiece, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? won both a Tony Award and Drama Critic's Circle Award for Best Play.

For tickets, please call the box office at 805.667.2900.

Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf is an R-rated theatre production containing adult material. This production includes adult themes, hard language, some violence and sexually-oriented material. Parents are counseled to take this rating very seriously. Children under 17 are not allowed to attend this R-rated production unless by express written consent of a parent or adult guardian or accompanied by a parent or adult guardian.

Parents are strongly urged to find out more about Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf (scripts are available at your local library) to determine suitability for their children. Generally, it is not appropriate for parents to bring their young children with them to R-rated motion pictures.

Please note that this production also contains cigarette smoking on stage.