Edward Albee’s 1962 play, “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf” is a brutal take on the games people play in their relationships. The insightful writing and touches of black comedy still make it a powerful theatrical experience and the University of Southern Maine Theatre Department production serves the tale of failed ambitions, dashed hopes, domestic disappointments and shattered illusions well.

When middle-aged, small college professor George and his wife Martha, who happens to be the school president’s daughter, have young instructor Nick and his wife Honey over for a drink after a faculty party, things unravel quickly. It’s made clear that George and Martha have a long history of trading lacerating insults and they don’t back off when the guests arrive.

It might be a problem having college students play such veteran combatants but director William Steele has found a couple of undergrads to undertake the roles.

Meghan Eileen O’Brien, exudes a booze-drenched sensuality in a role that could easily be overplayed. Her Martha moves with a loose-limbed swagger but also offers glimpses of a vulnerability that becomes clearer as the play progresses.

Luke Benning’s George begins as the bookworm defined by Martha. But the actor, not wasting a word of the many his character is given by Albee, gradually undertakes some acute verbal attacks of his own, tearing down Martha as a “harridan” with impish delight. Of course, he wouldn’t see that the limited roles for women of the day may have something to do with his wife’s frustrations.

Martin Bodenheimer’s Nick quickly recognizes the pathology at work. But his airhead wife Honey seems to enjoy the show (and the booze), even if she doesn’t really understand what’s going on. Bodenheimer was strong in revealing how his former-jock is reluctantly but revealingly drawn into the truth games underway, as George and Martha call him out on his conniving ambitions at the university and his disappointing marriage to his “slim-hipped” wife.

Brittany Burke, as Honey, was a comedic delight. Her open-mouthed, drunken reactions to the others drew many laughs. The USM sophomore definitely stood out in her smaller role.

Director Steele has set this two-and-one-half hour production three-quarters in the round at Russell Hall. The closeness of the performers to the audience, together with the skill of their acting, allowed for a clear grasp of the emotional undercurrents and power shifts constantly at work in this play.

The set by Shannon Zura features swivel chairs and high bookshelves to suggest the decor of a 60’s-era academic household. The character-defining costumes by Joan Larkins Mather, from George’s lived-in cardigan to Martha’s snug little top, also help to shape the action of this classic.

Steve Feeney is a freelance writer who lives in Portland.

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