Darren Gilshenan and Genevieve Lemon are not the first actors that spring to mind to play George and Martha in Edward Albee’s corrosive psychodrama Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Both are known primarily for their exceptional comedic skills. So when the Ensemble Theatre announced its 2017 season, their casting was met with some surprise. Well, thumbs up to director Iain Sinclair and the Ensemble for it proves to have been an astute, inspired decision. The two of them are superb in this new Ensemble production, Lemon breath-takingly so.

^{Genevieve Lemon and Darren Gilshenan. Photograph © Prudence Upton}

When Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? premiered in New York in 1962 it shocked audiences to the core and became an instant classic. A 1966 film starring Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton sealed its fame. Fifty years on, the dazzlingly well written drama may not shock to the same degree but it retains its ferocious bite.

The three-act play (performed here with one interval) is set on a New England campus over a hellish, booze-fuelled night. Warring married couple George and Martha return home at 2am after a university faculty dinner party hosted by Martha’s...