Sparks Fly as STC Gets an Acclaimed Production of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

When theatre director Sarah Goodes phoned beloved Australian actress Kat Stewart ( Offspring, Underbelly ) to ask if she might be interested in starring in her new production of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Stewart’s response was a resounding: “I’m very interested in female rage.”

Three-time Pulitzer Prize-winner Edward Albee’s darkly comic play about the unravelling of a middle-aged couple’s marriage over the course of one boozy night is perfect fodder.

Two years and two sellout runs in Melbourne later – including at the intimate 60-seat Red Stitch Actors’ Theatre, where Stewart has been an ensemble member since 2002 – Goodes’s take on the explosive play is hitting Sydney stages this November. It’ll also be Stewart’s Sydney Theatre Company debut.

“It’s ferocious and it’s funny and it’s violent, but ultimately there’s an incredibly painful heart to it,” Goodes says. She was drawn to the famous story not only for its emotional weight, but also for its resonance. “The play is universal and it’s eternal; there’s something ancient in its DNA, and part of it is that horrifying plateau of middle age where suddenly the dreams that propel people dry up.”

Such is the tragic case for main characters Martha and George – played by Stewart and her real-life husband David Whiteley – whose relationship goes up in flames in the wee hours of the morning, after a university faculty party. “Watching them on stage together, their intimacy and natural way, is absolutely fascinating,” says Goodes. Emily Goddard (as Honey) and Harvey Zielinski (as Nick) complete the tight cast.

Goodes has garnered critical acclaim for past productions like Julia, Sunday, Cyrano and The Talented Mr Ripley. And while she isn’t the first to take on the classic script, she’s doing it her own way. “IIt’s got a very strong estate [which means] that you can’t cut and paste. We’ve taken our own slight spin on it with the approach of telling the story somatically and emotionally, rather than trying to do anything radical,” says Goodes. “The same stories are told to us over and over again for a reason,” she says. Often, as is the case for Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, it’s the stories that hit home hardest.

“The play was written at the beginning of the ’60s, which ended up being a decade of extraordinary social change, and you can feel the vibration of that in the performance,” says Goodes. “It resonates today because there’s that sense of everything changing and people being left behind. It’s a universal feeling – we want people to feel it without being able to name it.”

Despite its intensity, this play is for everyone, she says. “If you’re in a relationship or have been to an awkward, tense dinner where things kind of unravel, you can relate to it. Houses and homes and relationships are always pressure cookers. You really feel like you’ve been through something with your other audience members when you see this.”

Edward Albee's Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? is on at Roslyn Packer Theatre from November 7 to December 14. Get more information and tickets at sydneytheatre.com.au.

This article is produced by Broadsheet in partnership with Sydney Theatre Company.