Written by orange• February 14, 2026• 2:41 am• Costa Mesa, Review, South Coast Repertory, Theater, Uncategorized

Edward Albee’s WHO’S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF? @ South Coast Repertory – Review

photo credit: Scott Smeltzer/SCR

Written by Patrick Chavis

Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? is playing now at South Coast Repertory, January 24 – March 21, 2026.

Having trouble finding a loving commitment this Valentine’s Day? Aren’t we all? With a three-hour-plus run time and two intermissions, South Coast Repertory’s latest offering, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, is definitely a commitment. However, it’s worth pursuing because of a staging as brilliant as it ever was since its 1960s debut.

Story:

Set in the 1960s, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? is about an older couple, Martha (Kim Martin-Cotten) and George (Brian Vaughn), inviting a young couple, Honey (Elysia Roorbach) and Nick (Gabriel Gaston), over to their home as a nice gesture. However, there more underlying sinister intentions at bay.

South Coast Repertory presents the 2026 production of Edward Albee’s ”Who’s Afraid of Virigina Woolf?” directed by Lisa Rothe. Cast: Gabriel Gaston (Nick), Derek Manson (George Understudy), Kim Martin-Cotton (Martha), Esther Pielstick (Honey Understudy), Elysia Roorbach (Honey), Sharon Sharth (Martha Understudy), Jake Stiel (Nick Understudy), Brian Vaughn (George). Segerstrom Stage, January 24 – March 21, 2026

Trauma plays out on the stage in real time. This show expresses it so much more clearly than it manifests in the world. Watching Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? gives you so many different ways trauma can play out. And it expresses all of these different reactions in a very probing, unpredictable way that keeps you interested even with the immense weight of some of the subject matter and the length of the production. I found the wait was well worth it as the show’s slow burn to its ultimate conclusion is particularly fitting and sobering. It’s a show full of laughter and an intense vision of our connection with the people we love, with ourselves, and with the dark places it can take us, whether real or imagined.

I don’t say it often because it isn’t so common, but even with good shows, you can find a mismatch in talent or presence. It doesn’t always mean the show is bad. Maybe another casting choice would have been better there, but the fact that it’s not there doesn’t matter because it’s a really good show overall.

Acting:

That being said, this cast was so well put together and thought through because these four actors are pulling so much out of each other on stage, with scenes exploring gender and power dynamics. Kim Martin-Cotten (Martha) and Brian Vaughn (George) take you through every moment of explosions, and the emotional rubble left behind was devastating. Roorbach and Gaston play unwitting victims in this piece with the confidence of a chihuahua going into a pit bull’s den.

Roorbach disappears into the role of honey. I imagine she’s still dancing on that stage.

Gabriel Gaston’s talent lies in how well he adapts his temperament, expressing himself so clearly that you can see exactly how he feels in his body while his words tell another story.

The lighting work in this is practically invisible, and then, wow! What an image from Lighting Designer Josh Epstein.

Cotten and Vaughn produce performances on that stage that make you question how you could pull this off every night, a magic trick I’d love to untangle.

This is an adult show with some vulgar humor, but it’s appropriate to the play and story.