Gillian Anderson and Billy Crudup are a terrifying and terrific pairing in Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf at Soho Place.
The play is set at an after-party early in the morning at Martha (Anderson) and university professor George’s (Crudup) house, with a young married couple, Nick (Josh Dillon) and Honey (Phoebe Horn).
But for Martha and George, conversation is a duel. Their words become weapons delivered as probes, pushes and outright attacks.
There is intimacy in the fighting. They know each other so well they know just how far to go, the lines to reach and sometimes cross.
They live within a fantasy, a series of games or illusions of their own invention that are about survival just as much as cruelty.
At the start of the play, their interactions hint at flirtation, suggesting it’s necessary to their love. It’s what keeps them going.
Gillian Anderson is feisty but contained compared to what is to come.
With more drink and a change of outfit, the gloves come off. Her physical performance gets bigger; it becomes sinewy and angular as she is more immersed in her and George’s games. It’s more prickly.
Billy Crudup’s George maintains a worn-down surface of calm for longer, but you can feel the bruises, the hurt and the anger broiling beneath it, which occasionally erupts.
The play’s 1960s setting is preserved in the furniture and props. Soho Place’s round stage gives the feeling of an ancient sporting arena, a space where people come to watch blood-drawing fights.
It is encircled by bookcases and a large ring on which the title of each act is illuminated. The ring rises high above the stage as the performance begins, and once here it looks more like a wedding band.
A fight to the ’til death do us part.
The stage revolves, but it is so slow I didn’t notice it until it was pointed out at the interval. It’s symbolic of how the characters are viewed, and perceptions of them change through the play.
When Martha and George’s games end, and the biggest illusion they’ve built together is destroyed, George and Martha finally sit still together. There is a closeness and a distance that is revealing.
Final thoughts
Imelda Staunton set the bar high when she played Martha in 2017, but while the script is the same, this feels like a different play: sexier, messier and somehow more tragic.
I’m giving it five stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf, Soho Place
Written by Edward Albee
Directed by Marianne Elliott
Cast: Gillian Anderson, Billy Crudup, Josh Dillon and Phoebe Horn
Running time: 3 hours and 25 minutes with an interval and a 5-minute pause
Booking until 30 November, see the Soho Place website for details.
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