Introduction & Overview of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

This Study Guide consists of approximately 64 pages of chapter summaries, quotes, character analysis, themes, and more - everything you need to sharpen your knowledge of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?.

Introduction & Overview of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

This Study Guide consists of approximately 64 pages of chapter summaries, quotes, character analysis, themes, and more - everything you need to sharpen your knowledge of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?.
This section contains 256 words
(approx. 1 page at 400 words per page)
Buy the Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Study Guide

Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Summary & Study Guide Description

Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Summary & Study Guide includes comprehensive information and analysis to help you understand the book. This study guide contains the following sections:

This detailed literature summary also contains Bibliography and a Free Quiz on Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? by Edward Albee.

Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Edward Albee's first full-length play and his first to appear on Broadway, is considered by many to be his greatest dramatic achievement, as well as a central work in the contemporary American theatre. Virginia Woolf focuses on an embittered academic couple who gradually draw a younger couple, freshly arrived from the Midwest, into their vicious games of mantal love-hatred. The play is a dramatic bloodsport fought with words rather than weapons—"verbal fencing," wrote Ruby Cohn m Edward Albee, "in the most adroit dialogue ever heard on the American stage." The play premiered October 13, 1962; at New York's Billy Rose Theatre and starred, in the roles of the battling husband and wife, Arthur Hill as George and Uta Hagen as Martha. The acclaimed production ran for 664 performances and led almost immediately to other successful productions throughout the United States and the world; the play has continued to be revived frequently.

Virginia Woolf garnered an impressive collection of awards, including the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award, the Foreign Press Association Award, two Antoinette Perry ("Tony") Awards, the Variety Drama Critics' Poll Award, and the Evening Standard Award. For the play, Albee was additionally selected as the most promising playwright of the 1962-63 Broadway season by the New York Drama Critics' organization. When Albee did not receive the Pulitzer Prize for his widely-acclaimed play because one of the trustees objected to its sexual subject matter, drama advisors John Gassner and John Mason Brown publicly resigned from the jury in protest.

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This section contains 256 words
(approx. 1 page at 400 words per page)
Buy the Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Study Guide
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Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? from Gale. ©2005-2006 Thomson Gale, a part of the Thomson Corporation. All rights reserved.