Represent Review: Who’s afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Catch Janice Honeymoon’s “Who’s afraid of Virginia Woolf?” at the Market Theatre in Newtown till the end of September, our citizen journalist John went to check it out for Represent, he gives it the thumbs up: “The piece is solid and intense delivering everything you need, laughter, suspense and shock.” Thanks John – here’s his take:
I’v long sat with baited breath to see this play – those old enough will recollect the 1966 film with Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton. This was my first time to see the entire play and I was not disappointed.
It’s over two hours long and esssentially features an elderly couple tearing into each other, leaving huge gaping emotional scars – it reminded me of War of the Roses. The piece is full of chuckles and funny bits caused by the elderly couple playing on each other’s emotions and performing in front of a much younger couple and using them as pawns in their mind games.
At times the action became quite physical when the older woman, played by Fiona Ramsay, started screaming and choking her husband , played by Sean Taylor. The two older actors deliver stellar performances – I could still hear Fiona Ramsay squeal like a banshee in my dreams that night. Everyone had American accents and some of the subject matter was very American, making it hard to understand some of the funny bits which got totally lost on the audience at times.
The younger couple, played by Nicholas Pauling and Erica Wessels gets caught in the middle of this screaming war – they deal with it quite differently than I would have imagined. Erica Wessels caused quite a bit of laughter with her girly-squeaky voice breaking some of the more tense moments in the play.
By the way, the play’s title – “Who’s afraid of Virginia Woolf?” – gets mentioned in the play, but we never found out where it came from .
The piece is solid and intense delivering everything you need, laughter, suspense and shock. It’s length – over 2 hours, and 2 intermissions – was the only negative element. This is definitely only for adults though.
Strong acting – weird situations – and a little of all of us the recognize – go and watch it !
Tuesdays – Saturdays @ 20h00
Sundays @ 15h00
Ticket prices: Tues – R40; Wed & Thurs – R80; Fri & Sat – R130; Sun – R80
