Vancouver East Cultural Centre
December 2009-January 2010
Presented by the Arts Club Theatre, Granville Island Mainstage
February 2011
Directed by John Wright
Set & Properties Design by Marti Wright
Costume Design by Maureen Hiscox
Lighting Design by John Webber
Stage Managed by Breanne Jackson
Assistant Stage Manager Tim Bellefleur
Production Management by Jim Preston
CAST: Gabrielle Rose, Kevin McNulty, Craig Erickson, Meg Roe
Jessie Richardson Awards:
Craig Erickson, Outstanding Supporting Performance
Meg Roe, Outstanding Supporting Performance
photos by Tim Matheson
We presented our first American classic, Edward Albee’s iconic Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, at an auspicious time, when hope and fear for the American future had become an intense focus in Canada and everywhere (and this was back in 2010!). Albee had recently revised the script, and when the new version played in both New York and London in 2005 and 2006, reviewers found it dazzling and fresh – every bit as relevant to the 21st century as it was to the 20th. The brutal playing out of George and Martha’s dysfunctional marriage still stands as a “state of the union message” and the dramatic genius of Albee’s “Walpurgisnacht” (Act 2) and “Exorcism” (Act 3) can still hold us in thrall.
It’s the 1960s and we’re on a small college campus. Husband and wife George and Martha engage in a night of razor-sharp “fun and games” with young Nick and his wife, known only as “Honey.” Alliances are made and broken, secrets are revealed, and ultimately the truth is laid bare despite everyone’s best efforts to keep their true selves hidden.
…a brilliantly original work of art—an excoriating theatrical experience, surging with shocks of recognition and dramatic fire [that] will be igniting Broadway for some time to come.
Newsweek
Kevin McNulty, Gabrielle Rose
"A fantastic evening of theatre." Georgia Straight
"Blackbird Theatre's smart new production... is worthy of the writer's greatness." Globe and Mail"Strange but true: Albee's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? is a love story." The Courier
