A fearless rendering of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf

May 17--Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf is a Mount Everest that should only be scaled by the most courageous and talented theater companies. Not even they are going to reach the summit every night.

Fortunately, Palm Beach Dramaworks is equipped with the superb actors Gordon McConnell and Lisa Morgan, and insightful director William Hayes, who come close to conquering Edward Albee's ferocious masterpiece.

Certainly, there have been more consistent, cathartic productions. But there are long, long stretches as enthralling and compelling as anything you'll see all season.

The plot tracks an alcohol-drenched after-party in which tweedy history professor George and his acid-tongued wife, Martha, turn their psychological games from each other to the fresh meat on campus, young biology teacher Nick and introverted wife Honey.

The object of the game, as the night drags to dawn, is to uncover the most vulnerable secret scar in someone's psyche and then plunge in a rusty knife, twisting as you go.

Woolf provides the object lesson that no outsider knows what really goes on inside the labyrinth of a marriage, what separate peace has been negotiated or how much correlation the apparent strength or fragility of a union bears to the marrow of the relationship beneath.

People familiar only with the brooding movie will be astounded by the humor suffusing this descent into Hades -- of the dark gallows variety to be sure, but it lubricates the clockwork whirrings of the human interactions on display, and keeps the audience engaged through the first 45 minutes -- until we see the first fangs being bared.

That accounts for the one serious flaw in the production. While the play requires a relatively calm starting place for its plunging arc, the George and Martha we meet initially never intimate a whiff of the controlled anger, imminent danger and profound damage inflicted upon each other over 23 years.

But that's eclipsed by a succession of scorching scenes such as when George and Martha reveal the story of their son's life to their visitors. If you are forewarned with the play's ultimate secret, this depiction of marital collusion ranks up there with the finest.

Hayes supplies an incisive dissection of the characters that differs from classic interpretations, and an ability to keep the river of bile moving in fascinating patterns.

His primary tool is a cast that luxuriates in Albee's arias, duets and contrapuntral quartets. The younger couple are often written off as a shallow alcoholic ditz and Adonis jock. But Clive Cholerton and Margery Lowe invest them with surprising depth and humanity.

Morgan convincingly swings from wanton to childlike, hunter to hunted. Her Martha is not the force of nature you might expect from this actress, and that cedes too much attention to George rather than keeping them in balance as a well-matched unit.

For it's McConnell whose technique, passion and intelligence pushes the production to a triumph. Initially too weary to uncork his emotions, his George is mesmerizing once the booze has freed the savaged and savaging soul inside.

This is a nearly three-hour marathon broken up into three acts. Sometimes theatergoers may feel like they're slogging through the swamp along with the characters. But it's a journey that should not be missed.

Bill Hirschman can be reached at 954-356-4513 or bhirschman@sun-sentinel.com.

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Theater Review

Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf

Drama. Through May 23 at Palm Beach Dramaworks, 322 Banyan Blvd., West Palm Beach. Shows 8 p.m. Friday-Saturday, and some Wednesdays, Thursdays; 2 p.m. Sundays and some Saturdays. Tickets $35-$38.

Call 561-514-4042.

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