Review: WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOLF? at South Coast Rep

The warfare in Southcoast Rep’s, WHO’S AFRAID OF Virginia Woolf? , is completely apparent.  But the love…not so much.

South Coast Repertory’s production of Edward Albee’s dark psychological comedy 100% embodies all the epic frustration and athletic dysfunction which begins and ends with Martha.  Not that you blame her.  Certainly, not as much as she blames herself.  But George and Martha’s relationship is so far past the breaking point, it’s difficult to see any way out of the tragedy.  And that’s just the play.

George, on the other hand, is irreverently passive.  Nauseatingly so.  For the length of the 3 hours including intermissions, which is also the portion of time the two couples spend together in the early morning hours of a Sunday, I wondered if this man ever had a spine.  The abuse goes on and on and on.  And he never fights back.  Of course, then, you realize it’s a strategy.

What actors Kim Martin-Cotten (Martha) and Brian Vaughn (George) bring to the table is all shock and awe for public consumption.  But they work their game with intense precision.  While inflicting pain at and on each other, they use the younger couple, Honey (Elysia Roorbach) and Nick (Gabriel Gaston) so maliciously, drawing them in and spitting them out like, really, the masticated meat they are in Albee’s play.   But often they do so without the underlying love, twisted as it may be.  It’s all venom, all the time, and not enough nuance, which is exhausting.

What is initially odd, is that Nick and Honey chooses to stay.  Here’s where Roorbach and Gaston go deceptively deep. Their continued presence throughout the early morning is so much more than drunkeness, social etiquette or ambition.  They clearly love being drawn into the nightmare, revealing their own cynicism (Nick) and fears (Honey).  But while they handle the mirroring of Martha and George’s relationship quite well, the sometimes superficial and aggressive enthusiasm masks their true purpose in Albee’s play.  We only get clarity because both Martha and George vocally spell it out.

WHO’S AFRAID OF Virginia Woolf? portrays husband and wife George and Martha in a searing night of dangerous fun and games. At the evening's end, the play brings on a stunning, almost unbearable revelation, which has traditionally provided a shocking climax for audiences over the years.

Times, however, have changed since 1962.  And the whole idea of being a failure as a woman for not being able to have a baby…I don’t know…haven’t we moved on a bit from that?  At least that was my initial thought.  And viewing this play in its 1960s genre from clothing to home decor to mannerisms, felt like the datedness of the scenario was keeping this piece in a box it didn’t need to be in.

Because, in actuality, Albee wrote one hell of a play.

It seems to me that beyond any material aspects of, WHO’S AFRAID OF Virginia Woolf?, or the critical subject that gets addressed in the finale, the tragedy is insanely timeless.

Failure in relationships as well as failures in ambition can never really be dissected from human beings.  Emotion, ego, physical form, motives, desires, denials…it comes as a one package deal.  All those things, are utterly exposed by Albee’s play and especially here by Lisa Rothe’s direction.  And these characters…these people…utterly sum up the deepest and darkest of human truths and illusions without talking about them at all.

Ultimately, they speak to another real summary of Albee’s characters in this play: the future is not necessarily brighter than the past.

Recommended

Photo credit: Schott Smeltzer/SCR.  Kim Martin-Cotten, Elysia Roorbach, Gabriel Gaston and Brian Vaughn in South Coast Repertory’s 2026 production of Edward Albee’s, WHO’S AFRAID OF Virginia Woolf? .

In association with University of California, Irvine Claire Trevor School for the Arts Department of Drama

Written by Edward Albee.  Directed by Lisa Rothe.

Starring: Kim Martin-Cotten, Brian Vaughn, Elysia Roorbach, and Gabriel Gaston.

Scenic Design: Regina Garcia.  Costume Design: Alex Jaeger.  Lighting Design: Josh  Epstein.  Sound Design:  Melanie Chen Cole.  Fight & Intimacy Consultant:  Michael Polak.  Dramaturg:  Jerry Patch.  Stage Manager: Caleb Thomas Cook.