Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? by Edward Albee played at The Gladstone Theatre in April 2016
Edward Albee’s masterwork Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? still holds audiences spellbound, half a century after it first premiered. This dark comedy portrays husband and wife George and Martha in a searing night of dangerous fun and games. By the evening’s end, a stunning, almost unbearable revelation provides a climax that has shocked audiences for years. Newsweek rightly described Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? as “a brilliantly original work of art—an excoriating theatrical experience, surging with shocks of recognition and dramatic fire [that] will be igniting Broadway”—(and points further north)—“for some time to come.”
Tickets: Adult: $34
Senior (65+): $30
Student/Artist*/Unwaged: $20
Preview performance: $18
*including Theatre Ontario members
or SUBSCRIBE for greater savings!
Tickets available at www.thegladstone.ca or by calling (613) 233-4523.
Tickets: Adult: $34
Senior (65+): $30
Student/Artist*/Unwaged: $20
Preview performance: $18
*including Theatre Ontario members
or SUBSCRIBE for greater savings!
Tickets available at www.thegladstone.ca or by calling (613) 233-4523.
Heaps of Praise for Woolf
"Farthing has Rainville and Eugster operating at the top of their game here. It’s a helluva script. An exceptional opportunity not to be missed."
—Brian Carroll, Apt613
"It’s the kind of baring of the human soul that we hope to find at the theatre"
—Kat Fournier, Capital Critics Circle
"It’s worth a trip to the Gladstone to see Paul Rainville’s masterful performance as George."
—Connie Meng, North Country Public Radio
"Rainville’s fluidly drawn George is… a pleasure to watch. "
—Patrick Langston, The Ottawa Citizen
"Rachel Eugster and Paul Rainville… do a superb job at playing off one another, creating a kind of enraged feedback loop that builds and builds"
—Joseph Hutt, On Stage Ottawa
"Paul Rainville Triumps in Virginia Woolf"
—Jamie Portman, Capital Critics Circle
—Brian Carroll, Apt613
"It’s the kind of baring of the human soul that we hope to find at the theatre"
—Kat Fournier, Capital Critics Circle
"It’s worth a trip to the Gladstone to see Paul Rainville’s masterful performance as George."
—Connie Meng, North Country Public Radio
"Rainville’s fluidly drawn George is… a pleasure to watch. "
—Patrick Langston, The Ottawa Citizen
"Rachel Eugster and Paul Rainville… do a superb job at playing off one another, creating a kind of enraged feedback loop that builds and builds"
—Joseph Hutt, On Stage Ottawa
"Paul Rainville Triumps in Virginia Woolf"
—Jamie Portman, Capital Critics Circle
Dinner and a show!!
Treat yourself to a lovely Italian dinner at Trattoria. 2 for 1 Entrée Special with the Gladstone production of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Maximum value of $20
Just one guest needs to present their ticket to qualify for a 2 for 1 for themselves and a guest.
The 2 for 1 offer is good on the day/night of the show and 30 days from the night of the show thereafter.
So the other guest who has a ticket can then come back again within the 30 day grace period and get his/her 2 for 1 with their guest
We will take the ticket if they have seen the show or punch a hole in the tickets once redeemed.
Just one guest needs to present their ticket to qualify for a 2 for 1 for themselves and a guest.
The 2 for 1 offer is good on the day/night of the show and 30 days from the night of the show thereafter.
So the other guest who has a ticket can then come back again within the 30 day grace period and get his/her 2 for 1 with their guest
We will take the ticket if they have seen the show or punch a hole in the tickets once redeemed.
Press:
Our director Ian Farthing talks about Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? on CKCU: Thursday Morning Special Blend (listen to him at the 73 min mark!)
What's On Stage: Q&A with Farthing and Rainvlle
By Brian Carroll, Apt613
Ian Farthing is directing Bear and Company’s production of Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? at The Gladstone Theatre, with Paul Rainville in the lead role of George. The play opens April 7th.
Brian Carroll interviewed Farthing and Rainville about this production and some of their other work.
Apt613: Can you give me a 30-second precis of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Farthing: Intelligent people behaving badly.
It’s set in a New England university. George is married to Martha who is the daughter of the university president. There has been a party at her father’s house on campus at the start of the new semester. A new lecturer has arrived in town. They met at the party. He and his wife are invited back to George and Martha’s for a post-party drink.
After that, fun and games ensue.
You were Artistic Director of the St. Lawrence Shakespearean Festival in Prescott for 10 years. You performed in The Sound of Music in Toronto for a year and a half. In Vancouver, you’ve directed plays like Last of the Red Hot Lovers and Frost/Nixon. You have a knack for making plays from other eras relevant to contemporary audiences. How do you do that?
Farthing: The plays that interest me the most are the ones that have something to say to us, here and now. Now, it doesn’t mean they have to be set in contemporary time. If you look at Shakespeare, directors have set him in any possible era you can think of. But they all have something to say to us, here and now.
When you were at the St. Lawrence, people would come to you and say: “What a wonderful interpretation of Shakespeare!”
Farthing: The question I heard the most was, “Who wrote the modern adaptation?”
Of course, it was Shakespeare’s words, but the story was told clearly, by the director and the actors. So people felt that it was contemporary.
But we’re not talking about Shakespeare here. Albee and Shakespeare have a great deal in common, in their use of language, and wit. The word play that you get between the characters in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? is very reminiscent of the kind of stuff you see between Petruchio and Kate in Taming of the Shrew, for example. The bickering that goes back and forth, where they’re two intelligent people using their wits to fight each other.
So if someone has seen Tag Team Taming of the Shrew by Company of Fools, they would come and see this?
Farthing: Yeah, I think that’s very good ground work for this.
One of my favourite lines in this play is (this): the young guy challenges George on why he and his wife are bickering so much and George says, “We’re exercising…”.
Rainville: “Martha and I are doing nothing. We’re exercising. That’s all. Walking what’s left of our wits.”
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? was written in 1962. It was adapted for film in 1966. What are you bringing to 21st century audiences with this production?
Farthing: Like all of the best stories, these characters in this situation are timeless. People don’t change.
Relationships don’t change, over the centuries. This is not being set specifically in 1962, because the piece is timeless.
Paul, your bio contains many premieres. You’ve brought a lot of new plays to Ottawa stages. But you’re also adept at bringing new insights to older plays. For example, when you played Angus in The Drawer Boy, my reaction afterwards was, “So that’s what that play is about!” How do you breathe new life into older plays?
Rainville: It’s not an old play to me! I’m getting to dig into it. We were talking about stuff today. What does this mean? Why does the argument stop here? What are the emotional reasons for Martha arresting her story about their son? Why does she stop mid-stream? What is it? What compels her?
I looked at your headshot and thought, “OMG! That’s George!” Besides the look, what else will you be bringing to this role?
Rainville: Almost 40 years of experience, as an actor. It’s given me a greater appreciation of the poetry of those playwrights.
The words are so delicious. What Albee has done is made me nuts about punctuation. He’s so exact. His punctuation tells you so much about what people are feeling. Thinking, yes, but feeling too. The rhythms send you off on pathways that are very strict, but very rich.
Farthing: One of the reasons, I think, why Paul is so great in this role. He’s a musician, so he understands the musicality of the text, the shape of how Albee has put his words together, to create this visual symphony. Also because we needed an actor of Paul’s experience. He can do things with these words, a slight inflection, change the tenor of a scene.
This play has had revivals this century from 2004 to 2015. Why this play? Why now?
Farthing: At heart, people, audiences are voyeurs. We all love to see people behaving badly. We love to see people tearing each other apart. When it’s done with such witty language, it’s fun to watch.
Rainville: Beatrice and Benedict. Kate and Petruchio. Antony and Cleopatra.
Farthing: Helena and Bertram in All’s Well.
Rainville: The Lion in Winter with Kate Hepburn and Peter O’Toole. Burton and Taylor. People pay money to watch these people go at it.
Farthing: They’re iconic roles. Albee plays on the iconic nature with their names. George and Martha are George and Martha Washington.
Rainville: The first family. Adam and Eve.
Farthing: What he (Albee) is saying, about the nature of relationships between George and Martha in the play. … It has a greater resonance.
Rainville: Adam and Eve, the sequel! What was it like 30 years later? “You know, that was a nice house we had!” “You and your apples!”
Thank you, gentlemen.
This interview has been edited for length.
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf by Bear and Company is playing at The Gladstone Theatre. April 7-16. For more information see the Gladstone’s website.
Ian Farthing is directing Bear and Company’s production of Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? at The Gladstone Theatre, with Paul Rainville in the lead role of George. The play opens April 7th.
Brian Carroll interviewed Farthing and Rainville about this production and some of their other work.
Apt613: Can you give me a 30-second precis of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Farthing: Intelligent people behaving badly.
It’s set in a New England university. George is married to Martha who is the daughter of the university president. There has been a party at her father’s house on campus at the start of the new semester. A new lecturer has arrived in town. They met at the party. He and his wife are invited back to George and Martha’s for a post-party drink.
After that, fun and games ensue.
You were Artistic Director of the St. Lawrence Shakespearean Festival in Prescott for 10 years. You performed in The Sound of Music in Toronto for a year and a half. In Vancouver, you’ve directed plays like Last of the Red Hot Lovers and Frost/Nixon. You have a knack for making plays from other eras relevant to contemporary audiences. How do you do that?
Farthing: The plays that interest me the most are the ones that have something to say to us, here and now. Now, it doesn’t mean they have to be set in contemporary time. If you look at Shakespeare, directors have set him in any possible era you can think of. But they all have something to say to us, here and now.
When you were at the St. Lawrence, people would come to you and say: “What a wonderful interpretation of Shakespeare!”
Farthing: The question I heard the most was, “Who wrote the modern adaptation?”
Of course, it was Shakespeare’s words, but the story was told clearly, by the director and the actors. So people felt that it was contemporary.
But we’re not talking about Shakespeare here. Albee and Shakespeare have a great deal in common, in their use of language, and wit. The word play that you get between the characters in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? is very reminiscent of the kind of stuff you see between Petruchio and Kate in Taming of the Shrew, for example. The bickering that goes back and forth, where they’re two intelligent people using their wits to fight each other.
So if someone has seen Tag Team Taming of the Shrew by Company of Fools, they would come and see this?
Farthing: Yeah, I think that’s very good ground work for this.
One of my favourite lines in this play is (this): the young guy challenges George on why he and his wife are bickering so much and George says, “We’re exercising…”.
Rainville: “Martha and I are doing nothing. We’re exercising. That’s all. Walking what’s left of our wits.”
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? was written in 1962. It was adapted for film in 1966. What are you bringing to 21st century audiences with this production?
Farthing: Like all of the best stories, these characters in this situation are timeless. People don’t change.
Relationships don’t change, over the centuries. This is not being set specifically in 1962, because the piece is timeless.
Paul, your bio contains many premieres. You’ve brought a lot of new plays to Ottawa stages. But you’re also adept at bringing new insights to older plays. For example, when you played Angus in The Drawer Boy, my reaction afterwards was, “So that’s what that play is about!” How do you breathe new life into older plays?
Rainville: It’s not an old play to me! I’m getting to dig into it. We were talking about stuff today. What does this mean? Why does the argument stop here? What are the emotional reasons for Martha arresting her story about their son? Why does she stop mid-stream? What is it? What compels her?
I looked at your headshot and thought, “OMG! That’s George!” Besides the look, what else will you be bringing to this role?
Rainville: Almost 40 years of experience, as an actor. It’s given me a greater appreciation of the poetry of those playwrights.
The words are so delicious. What Albee has done is made me nuts about punctuation. He’s so exact. His punctuation tells you so much about what people are feeling. Thinking, yes, but feeling too. The rhythms send you off on pathways that are very strict, but very rich.
Farthing: One of the reasons, I think, why Paul is so great in this role. He’s a musician, so he understands the musicality of the text, the shape of how Albee has put his words together, to create this visual symphony. Also because we needed an actor of Paul’s experience. He can do things with these words, a slight inflection, change the tenor of a scene.
This play has had revivals this century from 2004 to 2015. Why this play? Why now?
Farthing: At heart, people, audiences are voyeurs. We all love to see people behaving badly. We love to see people tearing each other apart. When it’s done with such witty language, it’s fun to watch.
Rainville: Beatrice and Benedict. Kate and Petruchio. Antony and Cleopatra.
Farthing: Helena and Bertram in All’s Well.
Rainville: The Lion in Winter with Kate Hepburn and Peter O’Toole. Burton and Taylor. People pay money to watch these people go at it.
Farthing: They’re iconic roles. Albee plays on the iconic nature with their names. George and Martha are George and Martha Washington.
Rainville: The first family. Adam and Eve.
Farthing: What he (Albee) is saying, about the nature of relationships between George and Martha in the play. … It has a greater resonance.
Rainville: Adam and Eve, the sequel! What was it like 30 years later? “You know, that was a nice house we had!” “You and your apples!”
Thank you, gentlemen.
This interview has been edited for length.
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf by Bear and Company is playing at The Gladstone Theatre. April 7-16. For more information see the Gladstone’s website.
Production Photos
Photos by Andrew Alexander
The Team
Ian Farthing - Director
Productions as a director include: Last of the Red Hot Lovers (Lovebird Productions, Vancouver) Frost/Nixon (Ensemble Theatre Company, Vancouver); Jeeves Intervenes (Chemainus Theatre Festival); Follies, Tenderloin (Applause); Macbeth, Othello, Two Gentlemen of Verona, Maid for a Musket and others (St. Lawrence Shakespeare Festival).
Upcoming productions: Mane Stage (Chor Leoni Men’s Choir), The Concierge of Vancouver (Studio 1398).
In 2014, Ian’s nine years as Artistic Director of the St. Lawrence Shakespeare Festival was honoured at the National Arts Centre with the Capital Critics Circle's Audrey Ashley Award for Excellence.
As an actor, Ian has been seen on stages across the country, including the Arts Club, Pacific Theatre,
Chemainus Theatre Festival, St. Lawrence Shakespeare Festival and Mirvish Productions in Toronto.
Upcoming productions: Mane Stage (Chor Leoni Men’s Choir), The Concierge of Vancouver (Studio 1398).
In 2014, Ian’s nine years as Artistic Director of the St. Lawrence Shakespeare Festival was honoured at the National Arts Centre with the Capital Critics Circle's Audrey Ashley Award for Excellence.
As an actor, Ian has been seen on stages across the country, including the Arts Club, Pacific Theatre,
Chemainus Theatre Festival, St. Lawrence Shakespeare Festival and Mirvish Productions in Toronto.
Jane Vanstone Osborn - Stage Manager
This is Jane’s second production with Bear & Company having joined the team for The Glass Menagerie last season. Recent projects include Judith Thompson’s new play, Hothouse, and a production of The Mountaintop, both at Theatre Kingston. Highlights of her cross Canada career include: Women Who Shout at the Stars (Ottawa Fringe and Toronto’s SummerWorks), the Capital Critics award winning shows And Slowly Beauty (NAC/Belfry) and A Christmas Carol (NAC), along with a Rideau Award for Stage Management on The Turn of the Screw, working with the Shaw Festival, NAC, GCTC, and the Thousand Islands Playhouse. She has also stage managed school tours, puppets, operas, and theatre with the visually impaired. She has been married to her high-school sweetheart for longer than George and Martha have been. So far so good.
Vanessa Imeson - Costume Design
Vanessa is a Theatre Artist holding a combined BA Honours degree in Dramatic Art and English from the University of Windsor, MFA in Theatre Design from the University of British Columbia and diploma for Makeup Design for Film and Television from Vancouver Film School. Vanessa designs costumes, make-up, wigs and puppets for a variety of collegiate programs and professional theatre companies within Ottawa while simultaneously acting as Head of Wardrobe for the GCTC. You can view her work at vanessaimeson.com
David Magladry - Set and Lighting Design
David Magladry has been a professional Lighting and Set Designer for over 20 years working in theatre, television, museum exhibitions and special events. His clients include SevenThirty Productions, Plosive Productions, The Great Canadian Theatre Company, Algonquin College Theatre Department, Classic Theatre, The Canadian Museum of History, The Canadian War Museum, CBC, BBC and Rogers Television. David is Resident Lighting Designer for John P. Kelly’s SevenThirty Productions, as well is the Resident Lighting Designer and Technical Director for The Avalon Theatre.
Eleanor Crowder - Producer
Eleanor has been producing theatrical events since the legendary environmental staging of This is Nanky Poo’s Liver. Timmy Next-Door still has nightmares after 50
years. She tends towards trees and echoing rock faces and audience experience which leaves you sopping wet with a sense of survivor achievement. Snow storms
from Kenora to Halifax figure in 100 stories. Last summer it was flaming harpies in The Tempest. So The Gladstone offers you a cushy berth.Productions here with Bear & Co. include The Taming of the Shrew, The Glass Menagerie and Who’s Afraid….Favourite achievements: Sandinista’ s Prairie tour for GCTC; Central Sudan tour of
al Jerrasim for Mussera al Tagadum; Romeo & Juliet True North Tour 2010.
years. She tends towards trees and echoing rock faces and audience experience which leaves you sopping wet with a sense of survivor achievement. Snow storms
from Kenora to Halifax figure in 100 stories. Last summer it was flaming harpies in The Tempest. So The Gladstone offers you a cushy berth.Productions here with Bear & Co. include The Taming of the Shrew, The Glass Menagerie and Who’s Afraid….Favourite achievements: Sandinista’ s Prairie tour for GCTC; Central Sudan tour of
al Jerrasim for Mussera al Tagadum; Romeo & Juliet True North Tour 2010.
The Cast
Rachel Eugster - Martha
Actor, singer, and music director Rachel Eugster is a founding member of the Bear & Co. theatre collective, and of Dragon’s Tea Trio. Her most recent stage appearance marked a first in her career, as she portrayed three different men in the Three Sisters production of Anton in Show Business at the Gladstone. Prior to that, she was seen at the Ottawa Fringe Festival as Æmilia in the premiere of her first original play, Whose Æmilia?, which followed quickly on the heels of her appearance at the Gladstone as Amanda in Bear’s production of The Glass Menagerie. This coming summer, Rachel will return to pants to play Banquo (and other roles) in parks across Ottawa, in MacBeth.
Rachel holds a Master of Music degree from the Peabody Conservatory, and an Honors BA in Theater and Music from Marlboro College. She is also the author of the award-winning picture book The Pocket Mommy (Tundra/Penguin Random House).
Rachel holds a Master of Music degree from the Peabody Conservatory, and an Honors BA in Theater and Music from Marlboro College. She is also the author of the award-winning picture book The Pocket Mommy (Tundra/Penguin Random House).
Paul Rainville - George
As Ensemble Member 2015/2016 - National Arts Centre English Theatre: Sir Toby Belch in Twelfth Night, directed by Jillian Keiley. He played Benoit in Colleen Murphy’s The December Man, directed by Sarah Garton Stanley; appeared as Dr. Radcliffe in Adventures of a Black Girl in Search of God. Written and directed by Djanet Sears, this exceptional piece of theatre, played at Montreal’s Centaur Theatre before its NAC run.
Other recent work: Malvolio, in Twelfth Night, for Repercussion, directed by Amanda Kellock. Oliver, in Dead Metaphor at Theatre Aquarius, directed by George F. Walker. Paul played Dick Cheney in last year’s NAC production of Stuff Happens, directed by David Ferry. He played Shylock in Merchant of Venice at Shakespeare by the Sea directed by Elizabeth Murphy. Over at the GCTC he was Stan in The Burden of Self Awareness directed by Arthur Milner. He was Grandpa in David Young’s brilliant stage adaptation of the classic Alistair MacLeod novel No Great Mischief, at Thousand Islands Playhouse,
directed by Richard Rose.
This summer Paul will play King Lear at Shakespeare by the Sea. And he gets to do that alongside his two children.
Other recent work: Malvolio, in Twelfth Night, for Repercussion, directed by Amanda Kellock. Oliver, in Dead Metaphor at Theatre Aquarius, directed by George F. Walker. Paul played Dick Cheney in last year’s NAC production of Stuff Happens, directed by David Ferry. He played Shylock in Merchant of Venice at Shakespeare by the Sea directed by Elizabeth Murphy. Over at the GCTC he was Stan in The Burden of Self Awareness directed by Arthur Milner. He was Grandpa in David Young’s brilliant stage adaptation of the classic Alistair MacLeod novel No Great Mischief, at Thousand Islands Playhouse,
directed by Richard Rose.
This summer Paul will play King Lear at Shakespeare by the Sea. And he gets to do that alongside his two children.
Grace Gordon - Honey
Grace is a born Montrealer, now living in Toronto, and considers Ottawa where her theatre-family lives!
Favourite credits include: For theatre: Love’s Labours Lost (Dauntless City Theatre), Julius Caesar Project (Spur-of-the-Moment Shakespeare), My Last - (Theatre Double Take) Othello, 'tis Pity She's a Whore (Bear & Co.), The Merchant of Venice, Three Sisters, Hay Fever (Dome Theatre),The Tempest (Kaleidoscope Theatre), The Art of Arousal (Spiritus Theatre), Cobra: The Musical III (MTL Fringe/Extensive Enterprises), Macbeth and The Two Gentlemen of Verona (MTL Shakespeare Theatre Co.) For TV/Film: The Apostle Peter: Redemption (Shaw Media), Fatal Vows (Investigation Discovery), Prank Patrol (YTV), Sex and Ethnicity (MaryBeth Products)
An honours graduate of Dawson College’s Professional Theatre program in Montreal. This past summer she was featured on the cover of the Summer 2015 Actra magazine for her work with the Young Emerging Artists Assembly, and returned from Russia where she worked under Biomechanics master and director Sergei Ostrenko at the Saratov State Theatre in Saratov, Russia.
Favourite credits include: For theatre: Love’s Labours Lost (Dauntless City Theatre), Julius Caesar Project (Spur-of-the-Moment Shakespeare), My Last - (Theatre Double Take) Othello, 'tis Pity She's a Whore (Bear & Co.), The Merchant of Venice, Three Sisters, Hay Fever (Dome Theatre),The Tempest (Kaleidoscope Theatre), The Art of Arousal (Spiritus Theatre), Cobra: The Musical III (MTL Fringe/Extensive Enterprises), Macbeth and The Two Gentlemen of Verona (MTL Shakespeare Theatre Co.) For TV/Film: The Apostle Peter: Redemption (Shaw Media), Fatal Vows (Investigation Discovery), Prank Patrol (YTV), Sex and Ethnicity (MaryBeth Products)
An honours graduate of Dawson College’s Professional Theatre program in Montreal. This past summer she was featured on the cover of the Summer 2015 Actra magazine for her work with the Young Emerging Artists Assembly, and returned from Russia where she worked under Biomechanics master and director Sergei Ostrenko at the Saratov State Theatre in Saratov, Russia.
Cory Thibert - Nick
Cory is an actor, director, writer, filmmaker and the co-artistic director of May Can Theatre (Wolves > Boys, It’s about our Goldfish, Happiness™). Performance credits outside of May Can include The Glass Menagerie (Bear & Co.); The Last Drop (Salamander Theatre for Young Audiences); Death of a Salesman and Edmond (Chamber Theatre); and Never Swim Alone (University of Ottawa). In 2015, Cory was nominated for an Outstanding Performance Prix Rideau Award for his work in Happiness™ (May Can Theatre). As a filmmaker, he is the director of On the Fringe, a feature-length documentary which profiles the experience of touring the Canadian Fringe Festival circuit. He is also one half of Wolf Pelt Productions, an Ottawa-based film production company.
*This is a Canadian Actors' Equity Association Production under the Artists' Collective Policy.