“Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf” is the cruelest, most relentlessly vitriolic play in the canon of modern American Theatre. Edward Albee’s play about an alcoholic academic, his equally alcoholic wife, and their two late night guests caused quite a stir when it opened in 1962. The language was raw, the tone frightening, the concept of a marriage existing in such a deplorable, hateful condition previously unheard of. The play went on to win a Tony for Best Play in 1963 and spawned a highly successful and much lauded film of a few years later. Performance Network Theatre opens its 2015/16 season with a commendable production that proves that the years have done little to diminish the play’s shock value.

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