Review - Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? - Royalty Theatre

Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?  

Royalty Theatre

24th October, 2023

Do you have children? That's an innocent enough question, isn't it? Yet for the four characters in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf, it proves to be a particularly loaded one. There is no simple answer for either of the two couples. One replies with a simple no, the other with the cryptic, "that's for me to know and you to find out".  This question of who does, or does not have children, hangs over the play like a spectre. Something is not right here, but it takes the entire play for the awful truth is revealed. It's a car crash situation - or rather a series of car crashes - and the audience can only watch as the relationships between the four characters implode in a series of disagreements and arguments, of threats that are sometimes veiled and sometimes blatant.  A late night party becomes the melting pot for the ambitions, frustrations and emotional baggage of four unhappy people.  Sexual tension and drunken antagonism sizzle through the play as the characters goad each other, circling like boxers in the ring, throwing verbal and physical punches. 

Lynne Huntley and Jordan Carling as Martha and George, and Jamie Lowes and Emily MacDonald as Nick and Honey gave incredible performances, changing mood and demeanor like chameleons changing colour, they flipped from solicitous and apologetic, to venomously insulting and back again. Under Beth McAneny's direction  the tension was constantly building throughout, leaving the audience wondering what could possible be coming next. 

This is the darkest of dark comedies as the tension builds between the characters, the audience is left trying to work out what is real, and what is not. Is it all just a game or is there a dangerous truth to it all? A darkly comedic exploration of the disintegration of ambitions and relationships this production will have you laughing one moment and holding your breath in disbelief the next. 

Are you afraid of Virginia Woolf?  You have until  Saturday 28th October to find out who is afraid of  her and why! Tickets are available here or purchase on the door. 

Denise Sparrowhawk