WHO'S AFRAID OF RESTAGING `WOOLF'? DEFINITELY NOT ALBEE.Byline: - Evan Henerson His 1977 play ``The Lady From Dubuque'' is enjoying a resurgence at the same time that the most recent Broadway production of ``Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf Noun 1. Virginia Woolf - English author whose work used such techniques as stream of consciousness and the interior monologue; prominent member of the Bloomsbury Group (1882-1941) Adeline Virginia Stephen Woolf, Woolf ?'' is touring the country. Meanwhile, playwright Edward Albee Noun 1. Edward Albee - United States dramatist (1928-) Albee, Edward Franklin Albeen , who turns 79 in March, has a two-act version of his first play, ``The Zoo Story,'' slated for New York's Second Stage Theatre, followed by a double bill of ``The Sandbox'' and ``The American Dream'' at Cherry Lane Theatre The Cherry Lane Theatre, located at 38 Commerce Street in the borough of Manhattan, is New York City's oldest, continuously running off-Broadway theater. A landmark in Greenwich Village’s cultural landscape, it was built as a farm silo in 1817, and also served as a . His newest play, ``Me, Myself and I'' (which is not, he says, autobiographical), opens at Princeton's McCarter Theatre McCarter Theatre is a not-for-profit, professional company on the campus of Princeton University in Princeton, New Jersey. It is one of the most active cultural centers in the nation, offering over 200 performances of theater, dance, music and special events each year. in December. ``And I have to write another play,'' says Albee. ``It's in my head. We'll see what happens. I get busier the older I get. I'm everywhere now.'' A week before he headed to London to check in on the progress of the West End's ``Dubuque'' with Maggie Smith, and with ``Virginia Woolf'' about to hit L.A., Albee spoke to us by phone from New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of . Q: How do you account for the fact that everyone's doing ``Dubuque'' again? A: I don't know Don't know (DK, DKed) "Don't know the trade." A Street expression used whenever one party lacks knowledge of a trade or receives conflicting instructions from the other party. . Nobody does this one. People get scared if the original production gets some stupid reviews. They think, ``Gee, the critics must know what they're talking about.'' The new production at the Seattle Repertory Theatre  This article or section needs copy editing for grammar, style, cohesion, tone and/or spelling.You can assist by [ editing it] now. got some very nice reviews. The play's good. I always thought it was. Q: For ``Virginia Woolf,'' is it true you organized a reading with Bill Irwin and Kathleen Turner to see whether the two were a match for the material? A: I knew they'd both be right for it. I guess we did have a reading, but for the producers -- not for me. I already knew what I wanted, and I wasn't going to take no for an answer. Q: What made those two actors right? A: They're both very talented, intelligent actors, and they complement each other. All you can ask is that they be the characters I wrote, be intelligent and say the lines I wrote. Which they both do. Q: What, to your mind, made the time right for a ``Virginia Woolf'' revival? A: I hate the term ``revival.'' It means ``bringing something back to life. ``Virginia Woolf'' was alive, it just wasn't playing somewhere visible. My producer is a very bright woman who decided she wanted to do this play now. It hadn't been on Broadway since I directed it in 1976. Q: You've directed the play twice before. Was there a reason you decided not to direct it again this time? A: I don't like to direct all the time. I like to stand back and correct other people. It's a little easier than correcting yourself. Q: What's the most frequent mistake directors make in staging ``Virginia Woolf''? A: Not realizing that George and Martha George and Martha as an imaginary compensation for their childlessness, pretend they have a son, who would now be twenty-one. [Am. Drama: Edward Albee Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? in On Stage, 447] See : Illusion are of equal importance in the play. They think the role of Martha is the bravura bra·vu·ra n. 1. Music a. Brilliant technique or style in performance. b. A piece or passage that emphasizes a performer's virtuosity. 2. A showy manner or display. adj. 1. one. Because she's yelling yell v. yelled, yell·ing, yells v.intr. To cry out loudly, as in pain, fright, surprise, or enthusiasm. v.tr. To utter or express with a loud cry. See Synonyms at shout. n. all the time, they think the role's more important. It's not. Q: What are your more vivid recollections of the movie? A: The first time I saw it was a rough cut, which I saw in Hollywood before they added that awful soppy sop·py adj. sop·pi·er, sop·pi·est 1. Soaked; sopping. 2. Rainy. 3. Sentimental; maudlin. See Synonyms at sentimental. music. I hate movie music telling me how I'm supposed to respond to things. I originally had been promised Bette Davis and James Mason, so I was puzzled. I was surprised the movie was in black and white. In those days, you couldn't do a serious movie in color. Q: What do you make of the fact that the play developed an early reputation for being obscene? A: There's no obscenity obscenity, in law, anything that tends to corrupt public morals by its indecency. The moral concepts that the term connotes vary from time to time and from place to place. In the United States, the word obscenity is a technical legal term. In the 1950s the U.S. in the play -- and there never has been. People get hysterical all the time. I've seen people walking out of (my play) ``The Goat'' on Broadway at the silliest times. Q: You taught for many years at the University of Houston. Did you teach your own plays? A: No. I don't like to think about my plays in those terms. I couldn't teach my own work. I'd rather talk about Chekhov and Beckett and Pirandello. Q: Have you ever sat in on a class during which someone else was teaching one of your plays? A: I tried it once until I realized, ``What is this person talking about?'' And I left for fear that, if I hadn't, I would have stood up and said, ``Pardon me. You're full of (expletive).'' And that's very rude. CAPTION(S): photo Photo: no caption (Edward Albee) |
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