It was 45 years ago, or 41, if you go by when the Elizabeth Taylor/Richard Burton film version of “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” was released. Either way, it was a different time, the period between the end of the Eisenhower administration and the beginning of the Summer of Love.
“Banned in Boston” still meant something then, and it wasn’t unusual for people to seek the advice of clergy, even in matters of entertainment, such as Edward Albee’s groundbreaking play, which was disturbing to many whose homes normally rang with the merry family sounds of “Leave It to Beaver” and “The Donna Reed Show.”
“Virginia Woolf” offered a different sort of family portrait: boozy academics George and Martha, with a son who may or may not exist, ripping all the skeletons from their marital closet and engaging in a vicious dance across the sensibilities of young ambitious professor Nick and his “slim-hipped” wife, Honey.
It had “a significantly different shock value” on Broadway in 1963, says Bill Irwin, who won a Tony award for his performance as George in a production that comes to San Francisco this week. “It almost didn’t make it in Boston” when it previewed there “because it upped the ante on language. It had to go before various panels and boards from the city and church authorities.”
It wasn’t the first time a playwright had challenged the notion of an ideal family. But this was different from such predecessors as “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” and “Long Day’s Journey Into Night.” Its language was stronger, the anger more venomous and realistic; these characters seemed locked in a battle to the death.
The play has changed a little in the current production, but the story is still set where it always was, on a college campus in 1960 during an after-party at George and Martha’s house. George is the frustrated, fading academic star, Martha is the ever-dissatisfied college president’s daughter, and Nick and Honey don’t know what they’ve gotten themselves into.
Irwin (whose 57th birthday is Wednesday, the night of the first San Francisco preview; opening night is Friday) says he sees the play as something of a love story, in which the shouting and the cruelty actually complete the portrait of George and Martha’s deep affection for each other.
Still, both he and Kathleen Turner, who plays Martha, worked at finding the comic moments in the play as well as the bitter confrontation. The idea was to give the characters more complete personalities that would explain how they have managed to remain married for a couple of decades, despite the rancor in their relationship. Some critics feel the Irwin/Turner interpretation finds a balance between calm and storm that adds considerable nuance to the piece.
Irwin also thinks “this actually is a physical story,” of “a man who doesn’t live easily in his body. He fights to attract his wife’s attention through his wit, and feels intimidated or bettered by younger athletic men.”
Most of Irwin’s career has been devoted to physical comedy, often with no dialogue at all. After he completed his theater studies at Oberlin College in Ohio, he attended the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Clown College in Florida and then came to San Francisco, where he co-founded the Pickle Family Circus with Larry Pisoni and Geoff Hoyle. His first original works were produced by San Francisco’s ODC Dance Company.
He went from San Francisco to New York, where many of his shows were staged in legitimate theaters. His move into traditional drama came slowly, with work in theater, film and television.
He has changed over the years, just like the response to “Virginia Woolf.” He recalls that during rehearsals, a question came up about references in the script to Catholic Church ritual, and someone called a priest friend to get a knowledgeable opinion.
“And the priest said, `Oh, let me get my copy off the shelf here and look,'” Irwin relates. “Things do change.”