DIRECTOR: Christiaan Olwagen
CAST: Sandra Prinsloo, Marius Weyers, Wessel Pretorius, Greta Pietersen
VENUE: The Fugard Theatre
UNTIL: August 8
RATING: ****
Harrowing and nasty, Wie’s Bang Vir Virginia Woolf? is an uncomfortable peek into a relationship founded on years-long mutual recrimination, self-loathing and perfect understanding.
From the moment older couple George (Weyers) and Martha (Prinsloo) step onto the stage the audience is privy to vitriol, macabre humour and uncivil behaviour that is fascinating in the same way a trainwreck is captivating.
The play’s dialogue is entirely in Afrikaans, with surtitles in English. People laugh at the witticisms which are funnier and darker and more cutting than the milder English surtitles suggest. While the swear words and name-calling in English is a tad repetitive, there is a remarkable breadth of vocabulary in Afrikaans.
The occasional stumble over a word actually makes the action more real, since it would be just too rehearsed if this kind of emotionally charged verbal sparring was note perfect.
Late at night, after a party at her university rector father’s place, Martha has invited a younger couple around for a nghtcap. As the evening progresses you get the feeling that they have done this often before, as George and Martha seem to have a preset rhythm to shoehorn procedings into.
By half time George and Martha have broken down the relationship between Nick (Pretorius) and Honey (Pietersen). Both youngsters lose their inhibitions thanks to copious amounts of alcohol, but use the freedom to express very different truths about themselves – and they seem to be a younger mirror of the older two.
What changes the usual proceedings, though, is that in the second half George is determined to break down Martha as well. By the time he starts reading what seems to be an exorcism rite, you are repelled and fascinated in equal measures.
The surtitle suggests halfway through the first act that it is Walpurgesnag – so the night when demons wander around. George gets it into his head to exorcise Martha’s demons, forcing her to confront their relationship and herself.
The set is fairly simple – segments of a long, grey couch get shifted around and a massive curtain hides an “upstairs” to which Martha decamps from time to time, as do Honey and Nick.
The choice of the Fugard’s theatre instead of the upstairs studio is odd, as the raking of the studio would have added greatly to the voyeuristic aspect. But, the behaviour of the characters is what is darkly fascinating.
Prinsloo creates with Martha this image unlike the one you have of the actress as refined and elegant. Martha is vulgar and bitter, constantly baiting George, belittling him. She knows she might push him too far one day, but pushes his buttons anyway because he is the one person who understands her perfectly.
Weyers’ voice is commanding and assured, at odds with the way Martha paints him as an insipid marshtoad.
The younger couple are just as self-deluded about their relationship and George takes great pleasure in showing them the error of their assumptions.
The obsession with chromosomes and the beginnings of genetic study belie the play’s ’50s origins though the theme of finding fulfilment, or not, through having children is still topical and relevant.
What keeps you riveted though is the dark dance between George and Martha which keep Weyers and Prinsloo foregrounded and darkly compelling.