Who's afraid of Virginia Woolf - An Alternative Meeting Summary

Too good to let it drop, Phoebe's idea of having a summary in form of a dialogue asked for some work. But now as it is ready, without hesitation or any delay, here it comes, Martha and George's morning after!

Martha and George the morning after, in bed.

G : (whisper) Shh … shh ... You still asleep ? (Pause, softly) You have to get up…
M : (sleepy) Hunh… (Pause)
G : (insisting) Remember? There’s this fund raising lunch concert thing at the faculty … with your father there …
M : Let me sleep, troublemaker  … (silence, some instants)
G : Well (monologue to himself), You need to go and take up the role of his trespassed wife… take the place of … get up little lady to be the red eyed mouse’s replacement wife. Since we are his … stuff … full attention to the faculty’s needs… (Pause)
George tries to embrace her from behind.
M : (returning quickly in his direction, outraged) Jesus, what do you think are you doing?
G : (Half joking, half serious) Huh, wouldn’t you have set up all that Walpurgisnacht tantrum for my excitement? Worth a real witch – your spell succeeded pretty much… (getting closer to Martha again)
M : (Interrupting) Oh let go! You weren’t interested at all last night, … lecher, so what do you want ! Making up for that horrible humiliation?
G : Huh, Elizabeth Taylor is out! At her best Burton times – You’ve been sooo wonderful!
M : (amazed) Really?... Wouldn’t you be happier with Audrey Hepburn?
G : Wouldn’t want to change for a tender swearword ! (look at each other, gauging; George moves with energy, turning around intending to leave the bed) Well, I’m going to make breakfast then. (sitting on the side of the bed, legs already out, casually) Want your coffee with gin or whisky, honey?
M : (pleading) No, don’t leave, just hold me a bit… (dragging him back into the bed)… for a moment… before I have to go…(they lay down front to front, looking in each other eyes) ... will be curious to see how that poor boy - what was his name, Nick? - digests last night…
G : … (reassuring) don’t worry about him…
M : … seems to be smart enough, will find his way…
G : … (slightly ironically, to himself) got the right launching…
M : … make friends in his mathematics department, start a family…
G : (interrupting, impatiently)… Biology, good damn, he’s in the biology department. And I don’t think that they’re gonna have kids. At least slim Hipped doesn’t seem too much up to it. Good news, they won’t get killed by their unwanted child driving a car the wrong side of the road…
M : (interrupting George annoyed, quick movement with the hand as to wipe away the words) Jesus Christ George, don’t bother me with that story again. I’m tired hearing it! And each time you’re bothering people with it, someone else is dying! Let me tell you right into your face: It’s a running gag at the faculty! (faking someone else’s voice)… George’s coming, let’s see who he’s going to kill by car this time!...
G : (offended) That’s all lies! (Sits up)
M : No, it is not! … (sitting up too, close to George) But don’t worry, the houseboy believed you. Try him next time... (patting gently his head. Finally she approaches George and kisses him gently. George responds with more tender gestures, becoming explicit)
M : (defending) Oh no dear, not at your age!
G : (playful indignantly) I’m six years younger than you!
M : And I have two more teeth… (both laugh, end up in a hug, Martha is liberating herself from George) ... Oh no, Georgie-Porgie, I have terrible headaches – I want an aspirin, don’t we have any tea in the house? – Why are you still here? Up peanut, into the kitchen!
G : Another day. I don’t want to. I’m not the houseboy... speaking of which... I’m not a houseboy, I did it in the sack! Yeah, but well, somebody's got to show him how the musical beds work out around here...
M : (hurt) I do whatever I want - If you had shown the slightest jealousy last night, you could have saved me from a real humiliation. Don’t you have any feelings for me anymore? You don’t have any feelings for me anymore.
G : (conspiratorially), I’m obsessed with you…
M : And I thought you loved me!
G : Jesus Christ, you are so not missing any occasion for being humiliated…
M : Oh shut up, (already indifferent, as if a usual statement) it’s you who did humiliate me... (absently minded) ... What a strange night we had, and what an ending. (Losing focus, retreating to her memories) Four people, lost, lies, a killing...
G : I had to kill our boy... to let him go...
(Martha and George in parallel, monologize to themselves)
M : Martha and George, Honey and Nick, like East and West...
G : Our loved son, left behind and gone...
M : … Washington and Khrushchev, decline and rise...
G : … the lamb sacrificed for salvation, the son to die for his people’s sins...
M : … and lies on either side...
G : … in your death we recognize our sins, give our souls salvation, kyrie, eleison...
M : … past and future, young and old, new and ancient...
G : … we ask you forgiveness for having given a life and taken it away …
M : … an end and a beginning...
G : … in eternal memory, requiescat in pace ...
M : … truth and illusion ...
G : … truth or illusion ...
M : … Martha and George, sad sad sad ...
G : … rest in peace, … the illusions gone, a new morning will approach...
M : (turned to George, mournful) Oh George, you shouldn’t have killed our son … you shouldn’t...
G : I know, I shouldn’t. … shh shh … But I had to, I had to … shh shh ...
They end in an embrace, both sitting on the bed.

Maren

Thanks to Cynthia for her advise and proof reading!

Edward Albee: WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF?

First of all we have to thank Caroline for welcoming us again at her place. Professional book club hostess she received us (Emma-Jane and friend Hannah, Robin, Helen, Cynhia and Maren) with her legendary charm and warmth.
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? inspired a rather positive feedback. Here some of the topics we discussed:

• The play counts amongst those which mark people's mind, of which one will never forget when and where seen for the first time. Amongst us there were at least two people who would confirm this theory (Hannah and Robin).

• The evening of the couple was cathartic, one might be inclined to wonder why. One of the possible answers lies in the three angle conversation: The presence of Nick and Honey allowed George and Martha to address topics and thoughts to their counterpart, which would not be possible in a direct conversation.

• We had a look on Martha's really special relationship with her father. Although Martha's father is apparantly not giving too much about his daughter, she is taking over the position of a wife in his fund raising activities. And, the social standing of Martha is important to her father, since an unconventional marriage was annulled on his intervention.

• Did George really kill his family? Na..., we were not really up to believe it. The story was "used" in different constellations, so it is probably not a real story, but applied where it suits.

• Obsession versus love: What keeps Martha and George together? Difficult question, we could finally not really answer. Bets went in both directions, probably the truth lies in between...

• Honey: Looks as if she does not really want children. What are the signs which feed this suspicion?  At one point she says precisely while she is crying, that she does not want children. They also allude to the fact that she may have terminated one or more pregnancies.

• Cynthia came up with some interesting ideas from the Schmoop notes on the Kindle, which are kind of like the 21st Century Cliff Notes or Monarch Notes she used to use in High School in the United States. The play can be read with a number of double sense reading: Heaven vs hell (swearing and Christian quotations, as well as the fictitious son being portrayed as a Christ figure, having been killed for the salvation of George and Martha) and East against West (George/Martha, the first names of the Washington's in contrast to Nick equal Nikita Khrushchev).

As usual our conversation went also on to other horizons:

• Most beautiful women in cinema: Elizabeth Taylor (of course), Audrey Hepburn, Grace Kelly, ...
• Wonderful Meryl Streep and her interpretations of different woman characters, especially her recent Oscar winning Margaret Thatcher interpretation
• Cartoons for adults: Family Guy, Simpsons, South Park

Cynthia & Maren

Edward Albee - Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

At long last, the explanation of why I chose this play.

When it came to by my turn to make the selection for October, I asked around what kind of book people were in the mood for, and it was suggested (by Emma, I think ?) that a play would be fun. Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf immediately came to mind as an interesting play, and it is truly an American classic.    I think it is shocking, hilarious, and depressing all at once, and I think some of the ideas addressed should make for a very good discussion, even if not everyone enjoyed it.   It was enormously controversial when it first arrived in theaters in 1962, and won many awards.  The Pulitzer Prize for drama, however, was not awarded that year because the committee disliked the strong dialogue of WAoVW, yet they did not give the award to any other play.  An interesting statement in itself. 

Edward Albee, the play's author, has been frequently quoted as saying the title really means, "Who's afraid of living with false illusions ?"   I won't say too much about the play for those who have not yet finished it (and indeed it is a very short read so don't be discouraged to start it even the day before the meeting !) but I will try to describe the context of the times in which the play was written.  The early 1960's brought a new way of thinking to the US at a time when optimism and prosperity were pretty much at their zenith for both the country and individual families:  The American Dream was no longer a dream, but really a “given” for everyone.  JFK was president, the youngest ever, and a new generation was beginning to assert its opinions and ideas more than any generation in the past.  It was the height  of the cold war, and the older generations still tended to be weighed down by a bit of fear and cynicism, and within less than a decade the hippie revolution would be upon everyone.  

George and Martha (cleverly named after America's first couple, President George Washington and his wife, Martha) represent the old generation;  Nick and Honey represent the future….or at least on the surface.  The absurd evening of interactions between the four of them shows just how many illusions we create for ourselves, whether consciously or unconsciously, young or old, etc.  Is the American Dream itself just an illusion ?  I leave it at that for now, with the rest to be discussed on Thursday.  I realize the play is a bit strange but I hope it makes for an interesting discussion.  And if so inclined….we can one day watch the movie together.

Cynthia