Clink!
The film version of "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?," with (from left) Elizabeth Taylor, George Segal, Richard Burton and Sandy Dennis.
Part 2 in a series
WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF?
Edward Albee, 1962 Tony Award, best play
Opened on Dec. 7, 1962, at the Billy Rose Theater (now the Nederlander). Starring Uta Hagen, Arthur Hill, George Grizzard and Melinda Dillon.
Broadway revivals: 1976, 2005, 2012.
IF WE'RE GOING TO talk about alcohol consumption on the American stage, let's start with the champion. If Eugene O'Neill's "The Iceman Cometh" gave saloons a bad name, Edward Albee's "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" did something similar for drinking at home.
In the middle of the young, vibrant Kennedy administration (after Lenny Bruce, before the Beatles), along came this shocking drama that dared to use language like "hump the hostess." It was too outrageous for the Pulitzers, apparently. The prize committee was set to honor "Virginia Woolf," but rather than condone such a controversial work, the Pulitzer people gave no drama prize that year.
What a Dump!
Uta Hagen as Martha in the original 1962 Broadway production of "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?"
Here's the plot. Spoilers are inevitable.
A grumpy middle-aged married couple (George and Martha) come home drunk from a faculty party in their college town. But the evening is far from over. Martha has invited a sweet young couple (Nick and Honey, who are new to the campus) to drop by for a nightcap. That one drink turns into an overnight party of liquor-fueled confessions, accusations, emotional brutality, betrayals, unauthorized revelations of secrets and even the death of a nonexistent young man.
'I Don't Bray'
Kathleen Turner as Martha in the 2005 Broadway revival.
MARTHA: THE LOUCHE DRUNK
We learn about Martha's disillusionment and disappointments first. Her father is the president of the university, and 23 years ago she thought her new love, George, might be his protégé and successor. But -- the way Martha sees it -- George was a great big flop, not even man enough to run the history department. She hates him, she considers him weak, and she regrets having ever having attached herself to him. She expected to be queen of the college by now, and instead she sees herself as weighted down by an aging, ineffectual failure.
Right after complaining that her home is a dump (in the guise of a discussion of a line from an old Bette Davis movie), she says to her husband, "Make me a drink." It's a traditional midcentury American marriage, we see. If the play is set in the year it was first published, George and Martha were married in 1939. It would never have occurred to Martha to make her own drink. Or that she could become a brilliant, respected professor and administrator herself. Or if that thought ever did enter her mind, it was quashed by every social convention around her.
"I can drink you under any goddamn table you want." she tells George. George advises a little later, "And try to keep your clothes on." This tells us something about the couple's social evenings in the past.
To be absolutely fair to the four inebriates who inhabit "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?," the play's action does begin at 2 a.m. after a festive faculty party. This is nobody's first drink of the evening.
'I'll Just Read'
Tracy Letts as George in the 2012 Broadway revival.
GEORGE: THE MEAN DRUNK
George seems to agree with his wife's opinion of him. When she insults him, he often just sighs and agrees with her. But he makes his opinions known in other, pointed, ultimately lethal ways.
He recognizes immediately that Nick, the school's new biology professor, has been invited because he's 28, fit and handsome.
Right off the bat, George puts the subject in the air by announcing, "Musical beds is the faculty sport around here." After learning that biology is Nick's specialty, George murmurs, almost to himself, "There is probably an irony involved in this, but I am not drunk enough to figure out what it is."
Well, the night is young.
It becomes clear that Martha is trying to seduce Nick and that he is not necessarily averse to the idea, When the act is imminent, George knows, picks up a book from their book-lined shelves and announces that he'll just read for a while.
At other times during the evening, though, there's nothing passive-aggressive about George. He can be just as directly and forcefully hostile as his wife. After Nick tells George a secret -- that before he and Honey were married, she thought she was pregnant, but it turned out to be a hysterical pregnancy. Minutes later, George turns around and mentions it in front of Honey.
George also takes out a fair amount of hostility on Honey, addressing her as "monkey nipples" and "angel tits." She is, fortunately, too far gone to notice.
Young, Young, Young Man
Luke Treadaway as Nick in the 2017 London revival.
NICK: THE PRACTICAL DRUNK
We know that Nick is not as experienced (or as dedicated) a drinker as George and Martha are, because he actually has a conversation about it in Act II.
Nick: "After a while, you don't get any drunker, do you?"
George: "Well, you do, but it's different -- everything slows down as you get sodden -- unless you can upchuck."
Nick is drinking bourbon on the rocks and has been since 9 p.m., he mentions, explaining that he's tired. He's a polite young man, but he tires of George's nasty remarks and seems to welcome Martha's erotic attentions as much to annoy George as to please her. Or himself.
Their assignation takes place offstage, but comments afterward seem to indicate that he experiences erectile dysfunction, a common side effect of heavy alcohol consumption.
Nick actually appears to be a decent guy. He should have gone home after the faculty party.
'I'm going to be sick'
Imogen Poots as Honey in London (2017).
HONEY: THE PATHETIC DRUNK
"Never mix, never worry," sweet, amiable Honey announces with a girlish smile in Act I, when she asks for a brandy at George and Martha's house. That adage seems to be the only thing Honey knows about drinking.
Act I ends with her blurting out, "I'm going to be sick" and making a run for the bathroom. As Act II begins, she's said to be lying on the cold tile bathroom floor, sleeping it off and clutching a liquor bottle. She's been trying to peel the label off.
She keeps drinking in Act II, however, and when George actually puts his hands around Martha's throat, Honey just starts shouting: "Violence! Violence!" It's not clear whether she's sounding an alarm or cheering on the combatants.
Close Encounters
The 1962 Broadway cast, clockwise from top left, Arthur Hill, Uta Hagen, George Grizzard and Melinda Dillon.
AND IN THE END
In "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf," Albee shows us just about all the negative short-term side effects of intoxication. One character throws up; another tries to strangle his wife; two others slink off to commit (or at least attempt) adultery in the next room. Stifled anger bubbles to the surface and explodes. Most tragic of all, people say things they shouldn't have said and can never take back.
Happily, no one falls down, but at least one character does get teary and downright lyrical.
Martha (to Nick): "We both cry all the time, and then, what we do, we cry, and we take our tears and we put 'em in the icebox, in the goddamn ice trays [begins to laugh] until they're all frozen [laughs once more] and then -- we just put them -- in our -- drinks."
She follows the speech with more laughter, then repeats the word "Clink!" five times.
NEXT ISSUE: 'A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE'