Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Reviews
Chicago Reader- Highly Recommended
"...The middle-aged married couple in Edward Albee's semipsychotic classic, energetically presented here by Redtwist Theatre, can tell lies that sound like secrets and secrets that sound like lies better than anybody. When Jacqueline Grandt's sexy, splenetic Martha and Brian Parry's submissive, saintly George invite Nick and Honey home for drinks after a late-night faculty party at the college where George teaches history, the inexperienced younger couple becomes unwillingly involved in a quarrel whose sadism borders on moral avant-gardism."
Time Out Chicago- Recommended
"...But the evening still has much to recommend it. For one, Grandt and Parry practically do a Fred Astaire–Ginger Rogers routine atop the thin line between love and hate. To misquote Norma Desmond, George and Martha are still big. It’s just the theater that got small."
Chicago On the Aisle- Highly Recommended
"...Seeing a play at tiny Redtwist Theatre, where a full house of 30 or 40 viewers often encircles the unfolding drama, can be an experience of in-your-face intensity. But the company’s electric burn through Edward Albee’s “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” takes intensity to a harrowing new place."
ChicagoCritic- Highly Recommended
"...It is a tribute to Gerace's skill as a director that though the alliances and tone of the play constantly shift, each change is logical and easy to follow. Parry mostly speaks in a low, contemptuous hiss, even when George learns Martha has broken the most important rule of their relationship. But when she humiliates him with his professional mediocrities and artistic failures, his meltdown is so wretched an audience can't help but pity him."
Around The Town Chicago- Highly Recommended
"...The scenic and properties design (Eric Broadwater and Josh Hurley) were detailed and convincing, and added a great deal of period glamour to the set (Jeff Gamlin). In conjunction with Clare McKellaston's excellent costume design, these technical aspects maintained a nostalgic elegance throughout the play which was constantly offset by the emotionally violent interaction between the characters, and the appropriately dark lighting design (Daniel Friedman), producing a highly disturbing but very satisfying effect."
Chicago Theatre Review- Highly Recommended
"...This is a remarkably intimate production, full of strong performances and sharp observations and insight. Edward Albee’s 1962 Tony and Drama Desk Award-winning drama is every bit as potent and soul-shattering as it was when first performed. Jason Gerace’s production is made all the more riveting because the audience is so close to the action, and theatergoers will leave this play feeling as if they were among George and Martha’s guests."
Buzznews.net- Highly Recommended
"...Redtwist Theatre has a very competent production on their hands. Grandt and Parry really understand their lines and because of that, both turn in rich performances that quickly cut through the melodrama. The artistic staff at Redtwist has also made this production pleasing to the eye in costume and set design. If you need another night with George and Martha, this is a storefront revival not to be missed."
Chicago Theater Beat- Highly Recommended
"...Staged with their usual in-the-round intimacy at Redtwist, the entirety feels as though one is observing a boxing match. The psychic blows land just feet from your face. I wonder how many couples wander shellshocked into the night, looking at each other with a bit more wariness than before after carousing with this cautionary example of ghosts of relationship’s future. There’s something Dante-esque about watching these people try to escape their personal purgatories with the dismantling of their lies. Albee famously sets the stage naturalistically and pushes inexorably towards the absurd (not the least absurd for the matter that no one leaves until the final blows have been struck, as if quagmired in the “swamp” of George and Martha)."