“Everyone’s Fine with Virginia Woolf”—Martha’s Revenge!

By Robert Russo

The title of Elevator Repair Service (ERS)’s latest production, “Everyone’s Fine with Virginia Woolf”, drips with so much post-modernist irony, it’s almost too irresistible.  Fortunately this new play by company member Kate Scelsa at the Abrons Arts Center in the East (and I mean east) Village is equally as irresistible.

Over the course of 75 brisk minutes overflowing with ERS’s characteristic mischief and madness, “Everyone’s Fine” blazingly skewers “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?”, one of the greatest plays in the canon.  Edward Albee’s 1962 masterpiece provides rich source material for a not-so-subtle roast that, like all good roasts, is based in admiration and respect.

Ms. Scelsa set out not to dismantle “Who’s Afraid” so much as to respond to it with a self-styled “fan fiction” parody examination containing a sometimes absurdist literary, dramaturgical, and feminist critique, shifting power dynamics and sexual politics among Albee’s famous quartet of characters.  This time, Martha’s in charge.

Excerpt from “‘Everyone’s Fine with Virginia Woolf’—Martha’s Revenge!” by Robert Russo. Read the full article here.