Review Roundup: WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF? at Theatre Royal Bath

Theatre Royal Bath Productions is presenting Edward Albee's masterpiece Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? at the Ustinov Studio in Bath through February 11, 2023, directed by Lindsay Posner.

Elizabeth McGovern (Downton Abbey, Academy Award nominated for Ragtime) plays Martha, alongside Dougray Scott (Enigma, Mission: Impossible 2) as George. They are joined by Charles Aitken (RSC's Coriolanus) as Nick and Gina Bramhill (Being Human) as Honey.

During the course of one brutal and hilarious night, George, a college professor, and his wife Martha invite a young couple back for late-night drinks after a faculty party. As the alcohol flows, the guests are coerced into witnessing and participating in George and Martha's sadistic game-playing and vitriolic verbal scrapping which reaches its climax in a momentous revelation.

See what the critics are saying...

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Mickey-Jo Boucher, BroadwayWorld: Elizabeth McGovern is utterly magnificent as Martha, nimbly avoiding the pitfall of beginning too snidely and curdling with resentment. The brilliance of her Martha is an ever-present playfulness, her steely eyed gaze often pared with an irrepressible grin that betrays a vicious glee.

Arifa Akbar, The Guardian: So much of Edward Albee's 1962 play about a boozy marital meltdown relies on the explosive chemistry of its central, unhappy couple. Such is the almighty shadow cast by Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor in the 1966 film that it is hard to banish it altogether but also unfair to compare. Under the direction of Lindsay Posner, the dynamic between Elizabeth McGovern as the domineering, disappointed Martha and Dougray Scott as her jaded university professor husband, George, is refreshingly different.

Jill Bennett, Bristol 24/7: McGovern is achingly mesmerising in her fragility disguised as strength, and Scott delivers a terrifying rollercoaster of a performance, which only faltered fleetingly as he reached for lost lines. It feels mean to mention this and I only do so because he had us in the palm of his hand and we felt for him. Charles Aitken and Gina Bramhill, playing Nick and Honey, match them both brilliantly as they observe, fear and eventually imitate their elders.

Kris Hallett, WhatsOnStage: One comes out of Lindsay Posner's new production of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, starring Elizabeth McGovern and Dougray Scott, haunted by the laughter. It's there throughout, the early guffaws of genuine delight at George and Martha's witty wordplay, replaced with more hollow chuckles as the battle lines are drawn, as truth shatters through the glass house of illusion that has propped the warring couple up. By the end, there is no laughter left, just a silence that stretches into the void.

Rachel Haliburton, The Times: In a world where so many people curate synthetic versions of their love lives on social media, Albee's central theme about the tension between reality and illusion in relationships holds strong. As with David Mamet, Albee's verbal wit is driven by a taut rhythm. It takes Scott and McGovern a little while to get into the sadistic swing, but soon the barbs are drawing blood.

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