Chi ha Paura di Virginia Woolf?

Edwar Albee’s most popular production is surely Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1962),  the story of an unhappy couple: George, a university professor, and Martha.  They spend most of the time attacking each other: he accuses her  of being an alcoholic (alcolizzata),  she humiliates  him and praises (loda) Nick, a young professor George feels as his rival (rivale). They often mention their mysterious son, but they feel unconfortable speaking about him. When a  young couple, Nick – the rival professor – and Honey, come for some drinks Martha tortures George in front of them providing the intimate details (dettagli intimi) of his failures (fallimenti). The tension gets so high (sale così tanto) that  Honey, runs out of the room to vomit.  While Honey is out of scene (fuori scena) Nick and George start speaking and they feel they can share (condividere) some of the intimate details (dettagli) of their lives. But Honey comes back and the craziness (pazzia) begins again. Martha and Nick flirt in front of their spouses (consorti) and then go to bed together, but Nick can’t perform and she treats him like trash (lo tratta come immondizia). Then George and Martha start speaking about their son, but  suddenly George says that a telegram came when Martha was in bed with Nick to announce their son’s death . Martha cries out and says that he’s not allowed (non gli è permesso) to kill their son. It becomes clear that their son does not exist  – it is just another game (gioco) they play, another fruit of their imagination to face (affrontare) their meaningless (senza senso) lives.  Nick and Honey go away leaving George and Martha alone with no more illusion. The play was then adapted into a film directed by Mike Nichols  in 1966 – starring Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, George Segal and Sandy Dennis