Today at 2 is the final performance of a staggering production of "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf," courtesy of the Harrison Players, a group that turns 60 this year. (As do I.)
We live in the age of the intermissionless 90-minute play. It's theater with its loins girt, where plays are sprints presented with apology, as if to say: "Sorry. This won't take long. We'll have you on your way in no time." There is no time to pause between acts to digest what we're experiencing and to wonder what the next act might hold. Producers, having taken our money, want us out. Here's your hat, what's your hurry?
It is an absolute treat, then, to experience a production as daring and rich as Harrison Players' "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?". In an era of the theatrical amuse bouche, it is a dramatic meal, a feast with three acts and two intermissions.
Edward Albee's dialogue still cuts and crackles as it did when it premiered in 1962, the year before Harrison Players burst into the scene with a production of "High Button Shoes."
This is NOT "High Button Shoes." This is marriage as bloodsport, a bruising night after a faculty party where George and Martha (the EXCEPTIONAL Danny Charest and Amanda Bloom) welcome the unwitting Nick and Honey (Tim Brandt and Elizabeth Paldino) into their home for a nightcap that lasts tills dawn.
The sheer display of memorization is one thing, but all four actors have managed to breathe life into these characters, these messy, desperate people. More shocking still was the realization that when I saw it last night — in an appreciative crowd that should have been larger, in recognition of the talent and the effort and, well, the Albee — it was the cast's second performance of the day.
It is not an easy play.
It is not easy to stage, not easy to memorize, not easy to produce, or to direct. It is not easy to act. And at times, it is not easy to watch.
But, damn, when it is done right -- as it will be again, I trust, at 2 p.m. today, at its final performance -- all those risks and challenges are worth it, and everyone walks away satisfied. It will be a long time before I forget that final tableau when -- after all the shouting and accusations and put-downs, after all the manipulation and mind-games -- a wearied truce is struck.
Congratulations all around, to Harrison Players for daring to stage it, to director Anthony Valbiro for his steady hand and impeccably executed set design, and to the cast for their dedication and craft. It's a pleasure to leave the theater fully satisfied, having been served an evening of thought-provoking drama.
There are still tickets available for this afternoon's performance, at 2 p.m., at 210 Halstead Ave., Harrison, NY. Details at www.harrisonplayers.org.
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