Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf Tickets

Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf was written in 1962 by the respected playwright Edward Albee. It has rarely been off the stage since, revived time and again by professional and amateur actors across Britain and the US, always fresh, always scandalous, always painfully raw. If you want to see a couple tear each other apart with nothing more than cruelly-chosen words, this one's for you.

The marvellous Imelda Staunton and Conleth Hill star as the troubled older couple in this fresh new production. It's directed by James Macdonald and runs at the stunning Harold Pinter Theatre from February 2017.

Why the title? It's a play on words from the popular Disney song, Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf, from the 1933 Three Little Pigs cartoon. Martha and George repeatedly sing their version of the song throughout the play, to thoroughly disturbing effect. Because the rights to Disney's song cost such a lot, many productions of the play use the nursery rhyme 'Here we go around the mulberry bush' instead. Why do the older couple keep singing that dratted song, time and time again? The plot reveals the song was sung at the party the four protagonists had just been to, and Martha uses it cruelly to needle George.

Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf – The story

The play explores the final breakdown of a middle-aged couple's marriage, which has been in trouble for some time. Meet Martha and George who, very late one night, invite a younger couple home after a university staff party.

Nick and Honey, have no idea what's in store for them – a very uncomfortable voyage into their hosts' horribly bitter and frustrated relationship. Thanks to the vast amounts of alcohol the older couple consume, they use the young couple to fuel their emotional pain and damage each other beyond repair.

This is a multi-award winner, a classic of our times. The play won the 1963 Tony Award for Best Play and the '62–63 New York Drama Critics' Circle Award for Best Play. A smash hit movie adaptation was released in 1966, written by Ernest Lehman and directed by Mike Nichols. It starred superstar actors of the day - and famously warring couple - Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor, with George Segal and Sandy Dennis as Nick and Honey.

The playwright Albee explained where he got the inspiration for his classic, a play that shocked and intrigued a generation. He said he was having a beer one night and: “I saw Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? scrawled in soap, I suppose, on this mirror. When I started to write the play it cropped up in my mind again. And of course, who's afraid of Virginia Woolf means who's afraid of the big bad wolf... who's afraid of living life without false illusions. And it did strike me as being a rather typical, university intellectual joke.”

The play remains as fresh and disturbing as ever, and Staunton and Hill are set to breathe new life into a plot that never lets audiences down. Don't miss it!

Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf tickets – The very best in black comedy

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