WHO’S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF? Preview Thread — Page 2

going on Monday. Will try to give a detailed account- surprised no one's really chimed in about how this fairs to the Morton/Letts revival...

VotePeron said: "For comparison, Mockingbird is running about 2:50-2:55 these days, and only has only one intermission. I did standing room the other week and couldn’t believe I wasn’t on the street until 10:55.
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For Mockingbird, the intermission starts roughly 1 hour 25 minutes after the play starts so the second part is roughly an hour and 10 minutes.

For this production of Woolf, intermission starts 55 minutes after the play starts. This means after intermission you’ll sit through roughly 1 hour and 45 mins of the play (with a 45 second “pause” between acts 2 and 3.) The pause just shows the curtain going down and then going back up. When I saw the play last night, some people stood up to stretch their legs but that’s pretty much it. Definitely no time to go to the restroom or to even leave your row. House lights didn’t come up either.

Intermission was around 20 minutes so I think they can probably have two 10-minute intermissions but I doubt they’d do it. Oddly enough women’s restroom barely had any line during intermission.

I saw the second preview last night. It's a stellar revival. When originally announced, I feared Metcalf, who has made a career of playing rather matronly archetypes might not have sufficient blousy sexuality to pull off Martha, but she's terrific. Strident, but also intelligent and extremely sexually confident. Martha's seduction of Nick, in particular, here, actually plays as more believable than it often does. Rupert Everett is a George very much in the Richard Burton mode (and he uses his native English accent for the part) and Russell Tovey and (especially) Patsy Ferran are ideally cast. Every revival of the play seems to showcase some different aspect of the relationships, and in this revival what stood out for me was George and Martha's intense need to be 'seen' by the other.

At last night's performance there was indeed only a 30 second pause between Acts 2 and Acts 3. The elimination of the second intermission didn't bother me. I'd frankly rather get out of the theatre at 10:50 than 11:00.

The design is extremely effective -- SPOILERS

With each new act, one of the major walls of the set is stripped away, leaving the final scene essentially played on an island.

Updated On: 3/5/20 at 09:15 AM

I saw the show last night as well and am still collecting my thoughts, but I loved this production, especially Metcalf, whom we may as well just rename the Best Actress in a Play Tony the "Laurie award" because she is giving a fully lived-in Martha that is bold, low-class, SEXUAL, hilarious, yet vulnerable and is truly mesmerizing to watch.

She is the first Martha I've seen (Turner, Morton, Staunton) that I truly bought the seduction of Nick. She looks great and isn't afraid to use her body. I fully believed Tovey wanted to sleep with her for the fun of it as well as the job perks it would create. They had wonderful chemistry. Heck, I even bought she wanted to sleep with George at points. She also seemed to be enjoying George's taunts and names, genuinely laughing and egging him on at the start.

The direction is again top-notch from Mantello who really gets to the heart of great actors. They are all giving great performances that feel nuanced and not gimmicky or broad. The night starts out with Metcalf very much in sitcom mode, getting laugh after laugh, performing such great physical comedy, but as the night goes on, more and more gets stripped away dropping both her ability to laugh at things and her desire to to make others laugh. How she treats the heart-break of George's words in act 2 (the "at daddy's party!" speech) was taken to a new place I've never seen it played before. Instead of blind rage and a throaty scream she changes to a shrieking headvoice. Needless to say George's final attack on her left me gobsmacked, I honestly felt like time stood still when she heard and processed the news.

I thought Everett was very good, playing the role a bit more forceful from the beginning that I like, but still a very mannered and funny performance, same with Patsy Ferran. Tovey was my only disappointment, but his American accent always distracts me.

That would be something, Jeffrey.

I have no doubt Metcalf is brilliant in the role. I'm particularly curious if (and skeptical that) Everett can top Letts' performance. One for the history books, in my mind, truly.

Laura Linney is also in the mix. And from earlier in the season, we have Eileen Atkins, Marisa Tomei, and Zawe Ashton. The nominating committee could even remember Queen Audra from Frankie & Johnny.



But Metcalf in a solid revival of WAoVW sounds like voter catnip.

east side story said: "Linney isn't winning, so it's either Parker's second or Metcalf's third."

Agreed. I think It all kinda hinders on MLP’s performance in HILTD.

I think Patsy Ferran is also pretty darn terrific as Honey. She is ideal for this role.

How's the design work? Contemporary or period?