A Synopsis of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf by Edward Albee
“What a dump.” Martha’s frank discontentment sets the tone of Edward Albee’s most renowned play: Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? The three act evening opens with sparring between Martha and her history professor husband, George. At the beginning of Act I, titled “Fun and Games,” Martha and George have just arrived home from another of Martha’s father’s late night soirees he hosts as college president. Unbeknownst to George, Martha has extended an invitation to a new, young biology professor, Nick, and his wife, Honey, to come back to their home for drinks. After Nick and Honey arrive, George and Martha begin exposing the dysfunction of their over twenty year marriage, at times violently and brutally. As the night progresses and the liquor flows, Martha makes a fatal mistake: she confesses to Honey that she and George have a son. When George learns of Martha’s indiscretion, he immediately goes on the offensive. At the end of the act, Martha humiliates George in front of their guests by calling him: “A great…big…fat…FLOP!” Honey then becomes ill and is ushered to the bathroom by Martha.
Act II, entitled “Walpurgisnacht” meaning “…a Witches’ Sabbath…[or] nightmarish wildness,” begins with Nick and George alone onstage exchanging stories of their pasts while Martha tends to Honey offstage. Upon Martha’s return, the two couples begin playing a series of “games” starting with “Humiliate the Host” in which Martha exposes the autobiographical inspiration behind a story George tells Nick in her absence involving a young boy who unintentionally shoots his mother and later kills his father in a car accident. The truth Martha implies is that George is the young boy in the story. In retaliation, George conducts two additional games. Seeking to reassert his power in “Get the Guests,” he trivializes Nick and Honey’s marriage through a “puffed up” mouse analogy. Honey, although slow to catch on, realizes that Nick has shared the sordid circumstances of her “hysterical pregnancy” and their subsequent marriage. As a result, Honey experiences another bout of sickness. Martha seeks to even the score at the end of the act by pursuing a sexual encounter with Nick, cueing the next game of the evening: “Hump the Hostess.”
At the onset of Act III, “The Exorcism,” Martha announces Nick’s inability to sexually perform because he has had too much to drink. Soon after, while cradling a bouquet of snapdragons for Martha, George arrives at the front door imploring: “Flores; flores para los muertos. Flores.” They soon return to their aggressive behavior after ganging up on Nick. George warns Martha: “I want you on your feet and slugging, sweetheart, because I’m going to knock you around, and I want you up for it.” After this declaration, he initiates the final game, “Bringing up Baby” which culminates with his revelation of their son’s death. Aghast, Martha claims that George does not have the right to “…decide these things” without her approval. However, George has been pushed to his limit and, as such, chooses to end the evening of games by destroying the illusion of a son that he and Martha created so many years ago when they were unable to conceive. After the truth has been revealed about George and Martha’s fictitious son, Nick and Honey exit, leaving George to care for Martha who ultimately admits that she is afraid of Virginia Woolf, of living life free of illusion.
More about Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?:
Edward Albee: An Abbreviated Biography
A brief biography of the celebrated playwright of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, including a list of career works.
Albee's Absurdity
PCS Literary Manager and Dramaturg Kamilah Bush touches on the Absurdist movement of the mid-twentieth century, and how its "confrontation of self" informs the existential reckonings in Albee's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Reading List
Calling all readers! Multnomah County Library put together a reading list inspired by our production of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?.
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