Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Review 2009

Genre: Drama
Opened 14 April 2009
Written: by Edward Albee
Directed: Andrew Hall
Cast: Matthew Kelly (George), Tracey Childs (Martha), Louise Kempton (Honey), Mark Farrelly (Nick)
Produced: Solomon Point in association with The Lichfield Garrick Rep Company
Synopsis: The cocktails come out and the gloves come off as George and Martha take their guests through the evening from hell.

What the popular press had to say.....
FIONA MOUNTFORD for THE EVENING STANDARD says, "Precision-tuned production...A harrowing, masterful evening." LYN GARDNER for THE GUARDIAN says, "Funny and forensic drama...The play, rather than the production, does most of the work here, and while the intimacy pays dividends, it scuppers the third act, which places Nick and Honey with their backs to the audience." DOMINIC MAXWELL for THE TIMES says, "Matthew Kelly continues his reinvention as a stage actor of note. He's raging yet impotent, hangdog yet bilious, as he entertains the poised young lecturer Nick and his callow wife Honey...If this production is, finally, more impressive than moving, the vicious vivacity of Albee's masterpiece stings throughout." MICHAEL COVENEY for THE INDEPENDENT says, "Virginia Woolf is especially treasured for its scathing, witty and surgically cruel dialogue, and this production with Matthew Kelly, unrecognisably dowdy and coated in self-loathing as George, and Howards' Way star Tracey Childs as Martha, delivers all the laughs while finally missing out on the sheer knockdown terror of the exhausting ritual...It's a rollercoaster ride, and, for all its faults, this production gives very good value." DOMINIC CAVENDISH for THE DAILY TELEGRAPH says, "The late flowering of Matthew Kelly's career as a serious actor continues apace. At the Trafalgar Studios, he's making a sensationally good, surprisingly understated assault on one of the most acid roles in 20th-century American drama...It's three hours memorably spent, though, for those with the stomach for it."

External links to full reviews from popular press
The Guardian
The Independent
Daily Telegraph
The Times