Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolf at St. Pete's American Stage
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| Richard B. Watson, Betty-Jane Parks, Matthew Stephen Huffman and Christine Decker in Edward Albee's Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolf at St. Pete's American Stage |
Last night, some friends and I went to see the American Stage Theater Company's production of Edward Albee's Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolf? Wow, what a night and what a play.
Subtle is not something that describes Who's Afraid in any way and if you've ever seen the 1966 movie you know what I'm talking about. What made it onto the screen in 1966 was the scaled back version of this story though. The stage version is as a raw as it is nuanced and the incredible cast at the American Stage kept the play's three plus hours from devolving into a non-stop screaming match.
There's a neediness and some thing such as love that undergirds George and Martha's dysfunction and looking Christine Decker and Richard B. Watson explore that onstage captivates as it repulses.
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| Christine Decker as Martha and Richard B. Watson as George on region somewhere in St. Pete. These two upload a frightening twist to the concept of a strength couple. |
Nick and Honey were performed through Matthew Stephen Huffman and Betty-Jane Parks and their naivete and unstated dissatisfaction adds the appropriate fuel to George and Martha's completely realized volatility.
Bravos exit to the actors and the technical forged. The set and costumes had been ideal and the American Stage's new theater became the precise venue for this manufacturing.
If you are in the Tampa/ St. Pete metro area, go see this play. It's running through April 23rd and there are still seats available. You can buy tickets through their website directly and while you're on that site, check out the rest of their season this year and look over the line-up for next season.
Florida has a recognition as a cultural barren region and in maximum cases it truly is no longer very far from the reality. But there's tradition here and I'm fortunate to live in a town in which I'm surrounded by using it. The American Stage is this place's oldest Equity theater and that it is thriving in a time when arts companies anywhere are slowly loss of life is as a lot a testomony to the management of the the theater as it is a announcement approximately the humans of St. Pete.
Local arts organizations are an incredibly important part of what makes a place unique and worth living in. If you're not in my area and you can't support The American Stage , The St. Pete Opera , The Florida Orchestra , our many smaller theaters, dance companies and our amazing museums, your community has assets similar to ours and they need your support and patronage now more than ever. Make it a point to go see a play or go see a symphony or go to an art museum. Unpatronized arts groups, organizations and facilities go away and that's nothing short of tragic.
Here's the American Stage's video excerpt from their production of Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolf?