IN A HOUSE DIVIDED... TURNER, IRWIN FIND COMMON GROUND FOR CLASSIC `VIRGINIA WOOLF'.

Byline: Evan Henerson Theater Writer

They go by George and Martha, like the nation's first president and his Mrs. But there's nothing especially dignified or presidential about them. They drink hard and battle harder. When they draw weapons -- which happens a lot -- they fight dirty, and they look to draw blood.

Notwithstanding, theirs is a twisted kind of romance.

``It is a love story,'' says Kathleen Turner, the star of Edward Albee's ``Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?'' -- the touring revival of which opens Friday at the Ahmanson Theatre. ``The two of them cannot live without each other. That's very clear.''

George and Martha, the ambitionless university professor and his acid-tongued wife, put each other, younger couple Nick and Honey and the audience through a booze-soaked, dark night of the soul before arriving at the tiniest speck of light at the other end. The pair has a secret that must be exposed and brought tragically to life.

Until that happens, it's rough going for anybody who comes into their orbit.

Battle royal

``Martha goes over the top of everything, and George sort of comes underneath,'' says Albee. ``And they both come out where they should be.''

``If you want some sort of insight into George,'' adds Bill Irwin, the current production's George to Turner's Martha, ``spend some time around Edward Albee. He's a very generous and sweet man, and he will come up underneath you with a sharp and undercutting wit.''

George and Martha, Martha and George. Arguably the most infamous husband and wife of contemporary American drama, they battle at the center of Albee's endlessly complicated and controversial play. ``Woolf'' put its then-34-year-old author on the theatrical map, taking the Tony award for best play of 1962, but losing its Pulitzer prize over issues of obscenity.

A 1966 black-and-white film directed by Mike Nichols was nominated for 13 Oscars, in every category then possible. Elizabeth Taylor -- dowdied up and acting opposite her husband, Richard Burton -- won her second Oscar. Sandy Dennis, as Honey, also won an Oscar.

``I don't think the movie is applicable,'' says Turner who has only seen portions of it. ``They really chopped up the script.''

``My wife hates the film, but I think it's quite wonderful,'' says Irwin. ``It's certainly different from the play textually. It's a different attack.''

Turner read ``Woolf'' as a 20-year-old college student, and decided she would play Martha sometime around her 50th birthday. She avoided watching the movie or taking in other productions, and by virtue of sheer aggressiveness and persistence -- and a successful film career -- made it happen.

The role's attraction?

``I think it's the recklessness,'' says Turner. ``She really doesn't have the same boundaries as so many other characters. I also thought that there was so much more humor in the play that people have responded to. There really was a terrific wit and black humor that I just wanted to explore.''

It took some perseverance. Upon speaking to Albee's frequent producer, Elizabeth Ireland McCann, Turner learned that the playwright was more interested in focusing on his new works than in seeing another high-profile attempt at ``Woolf.''

``Elizabeth felt he hadn't found anyone who made him want to do the play again,'' says Turner. ``I said, `That's not good enough. I want to meet him and talk to him.' ''

At the conclusion of a lunch meeting, during which Turner and Albee mostly talked politics, Albee asked, ``So what do you want?'' An organized reading of ``Virginia Woolf,'' Turner replied.

While not exactly ``stalking'' the play in the same way as Turner, Irwin heard rumors of a possible revival and wanted his name tossed into the mix. The actor (``Fool Moon''), who had taken over the lead role in Albee's ``The Goat ... or Who Is Sylvia?'' on Broadway, was called in for a ``Virginia Woolf'' reading with Turner.

``We come in, we never even shake hands, and we sit down to read this incredible play,'' says Irwin. ``The one sort of sign we had, people were laughing a lot. And at the top of the reading, one of the producers said she couldn't stay for the whole thing, that she would have to leave at one of the intermissions. When we got to the intermission, she got on her cell phone and said, `I'll be staying for the whole thing.' That was heartening.''

``I was insisting on the humor of the piece,'' says Turner, who calls the casting of Irwin ``genius.'' ``Bill has all the intelligence that George needs, and the comical ability as well. It's a no-brainer.''

Evan Henerson, [phone]

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CAPTION(S):

2 photos

Photo:

(1 -- cover -- color) A `Woolf' at the door

Kathleen Turner inhabits classic Albee character in Ahmanson revival

(2) ``I think it's the recklessness. She really doesn't have the same boundaries as so many other characters,'' says Kathleen Turner about the boozy, volatile role she plays, opposite Bill Irwin, in the touring revival of ``Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?'' opening Friday at the Ahmanson Theatre.