Red Stitch’s original run of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? sold out before it opened last November. The star power of Kat Stewart, and timeless appeal of Edward Albee’s 1962 Broadway play, no doubt had a lot to do with that. However, this return season in a commercial theatre tells you the production has much more going for it than brand recognition.

Indeed now that it’s able to expand out on a stage larger than at Red Stitch’s little 80-seat theatre, and the original ensemble of four are even more at home in their roles, this revival probably has even more going for it. (Sadly I didn’t see the original season, so can’t say categorically.)

Kat Stewart in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Photo © Eugene Hyland

For more than 60 years, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? has made audiences uncomfortable witnesses to middle-class, middle-aged Martha and George’s vicious expressions of disappointment. They host Nick and Honey, a young couple new to their middling university’s milieu, for an impromptu night of booze and unfair games of love and war.

Directed by Sarah Goodes, whose impressive body of work includes MTC’s current season...