The Hampton Theatre Company in Quoque will wrap up its 40th season with Edward Albee’s “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” It which will have a three-week run from next Thursday through June 8.
Generally considered the crowning achievement of Albee’s career as well as an important work of American theater, the play was first staged in 1962. It won both the 1963 Tony Award for best play and the same award from the New York Drama Critics’ Circle.
In addition to four Broadway revivals since then, a 1966 film adaptation directed by Mike Nichols and starring Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, Sandy Dennis, and George Segal, received 13 Academy Award nominations, winning five, including best actress and best supporting actress.
Howard Taubman of The New York Times called the original Broadway production “a wry and electric evening in the theater” that “towers over the common run of contemporary plays. It marks a further gain for a young writer becoming a major figure of our stage.”
The four-character drama focuses on George, a history professor, and Martha, his disillusioned wife and the daughter of the president of the college where George works. After a late-night faculty party, Martha and George return home, where they are soon joined by Nick and Honey, a young couple just arrived on campus.
Over cocktails, Nick and Honey are uncomfortable bystanders as they witness an alcohol-fueled battle of wits, insults, and insinuations between Martha, who attacks her husband’s stalled career, and George, whose passive-aggressive personality erupts into rage as he counters his wife’s accusations. As Nick and Honey get pulled into the fracas, revelations from both couples expose the decaying foundations of their marriages.
Presented in three acts, with two 10-minute intermissions, the theater company’s production stars Andrew Botsford as George and Rosemary Cline as Martha, both of whom are founding members of the company and have appeared in dozens of H.T.C. productions since 1985. Amanda Griemsmann (Honey) and Cameron Eastland (Nick) round out the cast.
The play is directed by George Loizides, a veteran of many H.T.C. productions as an actor and producer as well. Mary Powers is the production’s producer, set design is by Meg Sexton, lighting design by Sebastian Paczynski, and costumes by Teresa LeBrun.
Performances will take place Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays at 7 p.m., and Sundays at 2:30, with an additional matinee set for June 7 at 2:30. The May 30 and June 6 performances will be followed by conversations with the cast.
Tickets are $40 for adults, $36 for senior citizens, $25 for students (25 and under), and $30 for veterans and Native Americans.
