David John (Horrox, Present Laughter, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern) will be performing as George in Corkscrew Theatre Company's upcoming production of 'Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf'. Find out what he has to say about the show in the latest entry to our blog!
What makes a great piece of theatre? For me, it’s something that moves me in some way. It’s something that makes me laugh. It makes me cry. It makes me think about it long after the curtain comes down. It makes me talk about it afterwards, and in talking about it, I discover that there were things I didn’t realize in the moment, but that were there simmering beneath the surface. This is what I love about Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? The characters are complex, real and flawed. The relationships are real, but concentrated… they are “hyper-real”. They are immediately recognisable. Honey says, “I know these people!” And we do.
I first read Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? when I was 16 whilst my friends were outside playing sports, and I was inside being a drama-nerd. I didn’t know what to expect. I only knew that it was considered to be one of the great modern plays. I was shook. I thought that I had started to understand around the same time that Nick proclaims, “I think I understand this!” But now that we’ve all been diving deep into the text in preparation for our upcoming performance week, I’ve realised that there is so much more than I got in that first reading, or in watching the film, or in watching other productions of it. We keep finding new stuff in there. The rehearsal process continues to be a voyage of discovery.
Are Nick and Honey the ideal, young “wave of the future”? Well, yes… sometimes… but wait a second. Are George and Martha “sad, sad, sad”? Well, yes… sometimes… but wait a second. They are all so deep, so nuanced, so complex. When they say things, it may be in direct opposition to what they’re doing. When they do things, it may be in direct opposition to what they’re thinking. When they say things, it may surprise them because it’s not at all what they think, or want, or need. Yes… I know these people… they’re us.
Ultimately, this is, to me (and to Albee), a love story. Not a saccharine tale of true love, nor a bittersweet tale of unrequited love. It’s a tale of tragic, unrelenting, inevitable, uncompromising, flawed love-hate and hate-love. It’s a tale of the games we play, the fronts we present, and the relationships we cling to.
I can’t wait to share it with you.
David John
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? by Edward Albee
Tuesday 19 - Saturday 23 September 2023, 19.30PM
Saturday 23 September 2023, 2PM
Get your tickets here.