Edward Elbee’s 1962 Broadway play, Who’s Afraid Of Virginia Woolf? will be opening at the Harold Pinter Theatre, London, in February with Imelda Staunton (Paddington) leading the cast as game-playing wife, Martha. The Vera Drake star will be continuing her long love affair with theatre, having had more than forty years treading the boards, taking in everything from her rep debut in Waiting For Godot at the Birmingham Rep through to her Olivier Award-winning performances in Into The Woods in 1990, Sweeny Todd in 2012 and Gypsy in 2015.
The play originally opened at the Billy Rose Theatre on Broadway, where it was described as the “most exciting play of the year”, so the Harold Pinter Theatre production should be one for your calendar. Especially with Imelda Staunton taking on one of the four main parts. If it isn’t at least a contender for yet more Olivier Award nods, we’ll be very surprised.
Dates, show time and tickets
Who’s Afraid Of Virginia Woolf? will be opening at the Harold Pinter Theatre on the 22nd February 2017 with previews running until the 8th March. There will then be a two and a half month main run until the production close on the 27th May 2017. Ticket prices range between £10 and £90 with 100 £10 tickets for every preview performance and the same number of £15 tickets for the main run.
Performances will be Monday to Saturday evenings with a show time of 7:30pm, plus Wednesday and Saturday matinees at 2:30pm.
Story
Much to the discontent of University Professor, George, his with Martha (Imelda Stanton) has invited Nick, the new addition to the faculty, and his wife Honey over for some post party drinks. However, it’s all a part of the older couple’s disfunctional relationship, and the addition of more alcohol into the mix only fuels the flames of the incendiary situation.
Nick and Honey find themselves drawn into the thick of it and as time creeps on the cracks become more apparent, leading up to a fever pitch, honest revelation-packed climax.
Cast
Imelda Staunton is joined by two other Olivier Award-winning actors with Conleth Hill (Game Of Thrones) playing Martha’s husband George and Luke Treadaway (Attack The Block) starring as young biology professor Nick. The cast is completed by Imogen Poots (The Look Of Love), who makes her West End debut as Nick’s wife Honey.
Production
The new production of Who’s Afraid Of Virginia Woolf? at the Harold Pinter Theatre is being directed by James McDonald with Sonia Friedman Productions. Tom Pye is the designer, Charles Balfour the lighting designer, and Adam Cork the sound designer and composer.
First impressions
This is a highly regarded play with a very impressive cast, so expect to be floored by the Harold Pinter Theatre production. Who’s Afraid Of Virginia Woolf? may well be more than fifty years old, but with such a timeless story it continues to be included on the must see side of the West End theatre spectrum.
