George and Martha provide a wild rideat LCT

prathbun@starlocalnews.com

“Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” is a comedy. Who knew?

The laughs were fast and furious in Lakeside Community Theatre's production of the Edward Albee play on the second night of the LCT show.

The audience seemed to think it was watching a sex farce although the cast was not playing it that way.

On one level “Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf” could be considered a sort of sex farce that takes a very wrong turn.

The Colony cast grabs a hold of the 50-year-old play and gives the audience a memorable evening of theatre no matter what audience members think they are watching.

George and Martha arrive home after a faculty party on the college campus where George is a history professor. The two are sparring lightly, a common pastime for couples after decades of marriage.

George is played by David J. Wallis. He looks a bit too young for the role of a tired, middle-aged history professor, but that is not a worry after awhile.

Wallis gives us George with pathos, bathos and everything in between. George is a man who has settled for comfort in his life, a fact he is decidedly uncomfortable with.

Wallis gives him nervous tics that go a long way to create a portrait of a man who is trying hard to suppress how dissatisfied he is with his life.

He is married to Martha, played by Dena Dunn, who doesn't do much to stand by her man. She contributes to his dissatisfaction by pointing out his inadequacies at every opportunity. Martha is the daughter of the president of the college. She never lets George forget he married the boss's daughter.

Her manipulative techniques she uses on George are honed to precision instruments and she uses them masterfully.

Dunn infuses Martha with a deep sense of disappointment that colors the character's entire life. Dunn matches Wallis's intensity barbed remark for barbed remark. During Martha's worst moments on stage, she allows Martha's pain and vulnerability to show through. Her Martha is a person in pain accustomed to lashing out, usually at George.

Into this domestic quagmire walks Honey and Nick. Martha has invited them over for a drink after the party. George grumbles at the prospect of guests coming over at 2 a.m., but he puts up with it.

Nick is a biologist although Martha thinks he is in the math department. His wife Honey is just, well Honey.

Laura Watson and Alejandro Sandoval II make such a cute couple. They are so out of their depth and they have their own issues.

Honey shakes her head and giggles to the point that everyone in the audience and on stage is probably wondering why Nick married such a neurotic mess of a young woman. Watson avoids the mistake of making Honey just a ditzy blonde. Honey has her own way of coping with the disappointment in her life and being ditzy is one of them. There's an edge of pain in her giggling that almost makes it sound like a cry for help.

You just want to take Honey in hand and tell her to straighten the seams in her stockings. It's a detail that bugged me for awhile till I figured out that the seams in Honey's stockings would be all crooked. And where did Watson find seamed hose anyway now that we're in the 21st century?

Nick perhaps has slightly more of a clue. Sandoval's face is a video of discomfort as George and Martha begin sharpening their claws on each other.

Nick seems to be the sane one for a long while, but he cannot resist the power of George and Martha to make anyone come apart at the seams. He unravels slowly while trying to maintain his facade of the young man on his way up.

Sandoval and Wallis have a lengthy male-bonding scene that the two actors play brilliantly. They tell each other the central conflict in their lives while maintaining the just-us-guys banter without missing a beat.

The two couples drink a lot. All that booze is necessary to fuel all their dysfunctional antics. The play was first performed on Broadway in 1963. Today someone might encourage them to drink less and get more sleep.

George and Martha could do with some couples counseling and George could use a class in anger management.

Wallis yells a lot through the whole play. His constant shouting is exhausting. It would have been more interesting and easier to listen to if George had expressed a few emotions with fewer decibels.

The performance had a few technical problems last Saturday night. During the final scene that was supposed to be taking place just at dawn, dawn happened several times and a lamp turned on and off several times during the multiple dawnings.

Director Amanda Carson Green has gotten great performances from her cast with deftness and an attention to detail.

Even though the show is long, about three hours, it is worth the effort to see it.

“Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf “ is performed in LCT's newly renovated theatre. The board of directors held a ribbon cutting last Saturday night to celebrate the refurbished space. Walls have been removed and the sound and light booth has been enclosed.

Kudos to Lakeside Community Theatre for performing such a difficult play. They have performed many light comedies and musicals in the past and performed them well, but a community theatre should perform a variety of scripts so that actors, crews and audiences can grow artistically.

“Who's Afraid of Virgina Woolf?” is an artistic triumph for Lakeside Community Theatre. Go see it.

The show runs through Aug. 25.

Call 214-801-4869 or visit www.lctthecolony.org for ticket information.

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