Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf: "George and Martha. Sad, sad, sad." For lovers of the Woolf, those six words will induce Pavlovian joy. Such a cruel play. Such total destruction. Such delight. It was October 13, 1962, though, at the Billy Rose Theatre in New York City that first contact was initiated between an unsuspecting world and, in Woolf's scripted stage notes, "The living room of a house on the campus of a small New England college." That's the setup, and to describe the Olympic Games of Dysfunction that happen next in the resulting three-and-a-half-hour marathon would be as patronizing as to give you a scene-by-scene description of Hamlet (oh, and then Hamlet kills Polonius, and then he gives this crazy soliloquy that you've just got to hear ...). Despite the recent Broadway revival that brought Kathleen Turner to the stage in what was trumpeted as a spectacular turn, it's somewhat curious that there aren't more productions of the play. But watching Morgan and McConnell's work suggested the reason for the scarcity. If you can't create a production that outdoes, or at least equals, the performances in the film, then why bother? Should Dramaworks have bothered? This is what the audience has to say as it empties into the street: "They look exhausted." It's not only a brilliant and worthy comment but also a genuine compliment to the actors' work (all four of them) and the shared experience that has just torn all of us apart. — Dave Amber Through June 11. Palm Beach Dramaworks, 322 Banyan Blvd., West Palm Beach; 561-514-4042.
