Who's Afraid Of Uta Hagen?

I almost put the magazine down and shouted out: "Yes, Marlo, I was there!  I saw the same show you did!!"

Marlo was Marlo Thomas, the actress. The magazine had a "Best And Worst" feature (Worst Date, Best Friend For Life, etc.) and they had asked Marlo Thomas about the Best Stage Performance Ever.

Marlo's response: "I got to witness Uta Hagen play Martha in Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf?  What she brought to the character was amazing - anger, competitiveness, sensuality, vulnerability.  That show taught me more about acting than any class ever could." 

I, too, saw Uta Hagen play Martha.

Martha and her husband George invite two guests to their home for cocktails, and proceed to put each other down in front of their guests.  Actually, they try to destroy each other.  A virtual marital demolition derby.

This was not at all like the plays I was used to seeing.  

I grew up in the innocent, in the Fifties.  I was used to heart-warming plays like The Fantasticks.  I was used to light-hearted plays like Fiorello!  Instead, Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf? was brutal and raw.  I heard George and Martha say things like "screw you" and "hump the hostess" - words no actor had ever spoken on an American stage in the Fifties.

I was 19 years old when I saw Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf for the first time.  The script was published as a book, and I asked for a copy at Christmas.  I went back to see the play when I was 20.  Maybe, down in my subconscious, I was a fan of this play because it was a signal --- a signal that the world was about to change, a signal that The Sixties had begun in America.

Hollywood made a movie of Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf?, with Mike Nichols directing Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor as George and Martha.  I thought it couldn't be too hard for these two people to portray a couple that was out to destroy each other.  

However, I did not see the Burton-Taylor movie until the end of The Sixties.  

I was in El Paso, Texas, and talked a friend into going to see the movie at a drive-in theater in the foothills of the city.  The movie was fine, but I became aware, with a jolt, that most of the people in the drive-in were not there to watch Burton and Taylor.  They had brought blankets and were hunkering down to spend the night in their cars at the drive-in.

Driving back toward El Paso that night, I thought about how we had just watched a movie amidst homeless people.  I thought about how the innocence of the Fifties was gone.  

In the Fifties, I knew only the part of the world that was within a 25 mile radius of my parents’ home.  In the Fifties, I was deeply concerned about what other people thought of me.  In the Fifties, I saw a narrow path ahead of me: if I do the right things, I will succeed.  

In the Sixties, I had served my country both in the Peace Corps and in the United States Army, and had seen a lot of new places.  I had become at peace with myself, no longer worrying about others’ opinions.  I saw a flexible path ahead of me: waiting for me to figure out how to navigate life.

For me, the Sixties started with Uta Hagen on stage, and ended with Elizabeth Taylor on screen.

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Here is a 5-and-a-half minute excerpt from opening scene in the original Broadway play.  Listen to Uta Hagen work her magic.

Give Me A Big Sloppy Kiss

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NOTE: Doug's best stories have been collected into a book: Puppy Out Of Breath.  Price = $11.  You can purchase a copy at  http://www.puppyoutofbreath.com