Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? shocked audiences and critics alike with its assault on decorum. At base though, the play is simply a love story: an examination of a long-wedded life, filled with the hopes, dreams, disappointments, and pain that accompany the passing of many years together. While the ethos of the play is tragicomic, it is the anachronistic, melodramatic secret object—the nonexistent "son"—that upends the audience’s sense of theatrical normalcy. The mean and vulgar bile spewed among the characters hides these elements, making it feel like something entirely "new." As Michael Y. Bennett reveals, the play is the same emperor, just wearing new clothes. In short, it is straight out of the grand tradition of living room drama: Ibsen, Chekhov, Glaspell, Hellmann, O’Neill, Wilder, Miller, Williams, and Albee.

THE STORY: George, a professor at a small college, and his wife, Martha, have just returned home, drunk from a Saturday night party. Martha announces, amidst general profanity, that she has invited a young couple--an opportunistic new professor at t

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 resentment and rage 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? is a "brilliantly original work of art -- an excoriating theatrical experience, surging with shocks of recognition and dramatic fire" (Newsweek).

Seminar paper from the year 2009 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, grade: 2, University of Graz (Anglistik), course: Literary Studies II, language: English, abstract: ''I don't want to kiss you, Martha.'' George in Who is Afraid of Virginia Woolf This turns out to be quite a significant statement by George in Edward Albee ́s drama Who ́s Afraid of Virginia Woolf, giving an idea of the unemotional and passionless relationship between him and his wife Martha. By investigating the play, many scenes and indication to hidden sexuality can be encountered. In addition to that the lack of communication within the two couples, originating from two different generations, result in a complete incapability of managing their relationships. This paper examines how Edward Albee, by highlighting themes of sexuality, reveals general frustrations in life. Frustrated, unsatisfied marriage is a central theme in Albee's Who is Afraid of Virginia Woolf and will be investigated by means of dissecting scenes and certain passage of importance.

A bitter marriage unravels in Edward Albee's darkly humorous play—winner of the Tony Award for Best Play. “Twelve times a week,” answered actress Uta Hagen when asked how often she’d like to play Martha in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? In the same way, audiences and critics alike could not 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 its 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.”

A divisive left-wing leader at the helm of the Labour Party. A Conservative prime minister battling with her cabinet. An identity crisis on a national scale. This is Britain 1981. One Sunday morning, four prominent Labour politicians - Bill Rodgers, Shirley Williams, Roy Jenkins and David Owen - gather in private at Owen's home in Limehouse, East London. They are desperate to find a political alternative. Should they split their party, divide their loyalties, and risk betraying everything they believe in? Would they be starting afresh, or destroying forever the tradition that nurtured them? Steve Waters' thrilling drama takes us behind closed doors to imagine the personal conflicts behind the making of political history. Limehouse premiered at the Donmar Warehouse, London, in 2017, directed by Polly Findlay. It is a fictionalised account of real events, and it is not endorsed by the individuals portrayed.

Edward Albee, perhaps best known for his acclaimed and infamous 1960s drama Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, is one of America's greatest living playwrights. Now in his seventies, he is still writing challenging, award-winning dramas. This collection of essays on Albee, which includes contributions from the leading commentators on Albee's work, brings fresh critical insights to bear by exploring the full scope of the playwright's career, from his 1959 breakthrough with The Zoo Story to his recent Broadway success, The Goat, or Who is Sylvia? (2002). The contributors include scholars of both theatre and English literature, and the essays thus consider the plays both as literary texts and as performed drama. The collection considers a number of Albee's lesser-known and neglected works, provides a comprehensive introduction and overview, and includes an exclusive, original interview with Mr Albee, on topics spanning his whole career.

A sharp-witted parody of a celebrated American drama, EVERYONE’S FINE WITH VIRGINIA WOOLF is, in turns, loving homage and fierce feminist takedown. Kate Scelsa’s incisive and hilarious reinvention of Edward Albee’s classic Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? slyly subverts the power dynamics of the original play’s not-so-happy couple. In the end, no one will be left unscathed by the ferocity of Martha’s revenge on an unsuspecting patriarchy.

Two modern plays explore the spiritual and tragic aspects of the human struggle with death