Haverhill Arts Centre to welcome Centre Stage Company production of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

One of the most iconic and influential plays of the revolutionary 1960s is being brought to the stage at Haverhill Arts Centre next week by Centre Stage Company.

A dark comedy, Who’s Afraid Of Virginia Woolf? features middle-aged husband and wife George and Martha in a searing, booze-fuelled night of dangerous fun and games with young couple Nick and Honey. By the evening’s end, a stunning, almost unbearable revelation provides a climax that has shocked audiences for years.

The 1962 play by American Edward Albee took Broadway by storm, and then London’s West End, and was adapted four years later as a multi-award-winning film starring Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton.

Centre Stage Company bring it to Haverhill Arts Centre in an innovatory theatre-in-the-round production starring Lorraine Taylor as Martha, Steve Murray as George, Cian Harriss as Nick and Emma Cracknell as Honey.

Director David Hart said it was a play he had wanted to do for years and described it as hilarious, horrifying and heart-breaking.

“It has a level of intensity which has rarely been equalled, and a range of language which is breath-taking,” he said.

“George and Martha’s dysfunctional marriage drags their late-night guests into a series of cruel and vicious revelations, which may or may not be true, and not until dawn does one begin to realise the full misery of each of the participants.

“Staging it almost in the round places the audience within the war which is going on in this New England campus living room, and I hope will give everyone a rollercoaster ride to remember!”

The play runs on Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 7pm and tickets are available from the arts centre on 01440 714140. It deals with adult themes, and some adult language is used.