Back to Plays

Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Tickets

The iconic Edward Albee's play returning to the West End with a stellar cast!

Performance dates

22 February to 27 May 2017. Monday to Saturday 7.30pm, Wednesday and Saturday matinee 2.30pm.

Run time 3 hours including one interval

Includes interval

Top Rated Show

Reviewers highly rate this show

  • Show info
  • Gallery
  • Accessibility
  • Reviews
  • News

Imelda Staunton (Martha) and Conleth Hill (George) star in a new production of multi Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Edward Albee’s landmark play: Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? directed by James Macdonald.  

★★★★★ ‘Imelda Staunton at her magnificent best.  A first rate revival of an astonishing play.  Perfection.’ -- The Guardian, Michael Billington

★★★★★‘ A fierce revival.  Conleth Hill is superb.  Exquisite.’ - The Evening Standard, Henry Hitchings

★★★★★ ‘One of the greatest feats of acting I have witnessed.  A brilliant night out.’ - The Independent, Paul Taylor

In the early hours of the morning on the campus of an American college, Martha, much to her husband George’s displeasure, has invited the new professor Nick and his wife Honey to their home for some after-party drinks. As the alcohol flows and dawn approaches, the young couple are drawn into George and Martha’s toxic games until the evening reaches its climax in a moment of devastating truth-telling.

Imelda Staunton returns to the West End after her Olivier Award-winning performances as Mama Rose in Gypsy and Mrs Lovett in Sweeney Todd. Her many theatre and film credits include Edward Albee’s A Delicate Balance at the Almeida Theatre, her Bafta Award-winning performance in the title role for Vera Drake, and as Dolores Umbridge in the Harry Potter films.
Conleth Hill is perhaps best known for his role as Lord Varys in the HBO television production Game of Thrones. His extensive theatre credits include Quartermaine’s Terms and The Cherry Orchard at the National Theatre. Hill has won Olivier awards for his performances in The Producers and Stones In His Pockets.

 

Please note Thursday 17th May's performance will be part of NT Live and will start at 7pm.  You will need to be seated by 6.45pm latest and there will be cameras in the Stalls level and possibly Dress Circle.  No latecomers will be admitted.

Special notes

Contains strong language. Contains scenes of sexual nature. Contains strong violent scenes. Please note Thursday 18th May's performance will be part of NT Live and will start at 7pm. You will need to be seated by 6.45pm latest and there will be cameras in the Stalls level and possibly Dress Circle. No latecomers will be admitted.

Group Pricing

Special pricing for groups of 10 or moreCheck our group prices and save!

Recent Reviews

4.7
36 reviews
Lisa Slade

Acting at its finest this kind of theatre doesn,t come along every day. It will blow yo away!! Marvelous, shocking and sad.

W Michael Metzger

Who' Afraid of Virginia Woolf has always been one mine and my wife’s favorite plays. In fact, we know most of the lines by heart as we have seen it so many times. Imogen Poots and Luke Treadaway were magnificent. It's hard to image how they could keep up such intensity for almost three hours.

Javier Tripodi

Actors & actresses were stunning! Amazing production where we started laughing, passed through the deepest humans miseries and ended up open mouths. Congratulations!!! Your play is detailed and well produced and we've really enjoyed our time in the theatre.

John Harris

I have seen few if any plays with acting as fine - perhaps Rylance in Jerusalem or the people in the Man and Two Masters adaptation.

Sue Glover

Incredible performances by all - I felt as though I'd been a guest at the impromptu drinks party and had been left emotionally drained at the end of it all! Spectacular and an absolute must!

Tim Toghill

Fantastic edgy challenging theatre. Terrific night and very entertaining

Adam Garcia

The performances are stellar.

Dorothea Saragli

Actors were awesome!!!!nice plot but not for 3hour play...I recommend it????

farah

Performance was excellent, but beware the balcony seats in the Harold Pinter theatre which were cramped and very uncomfortable. Not recommended for the claustrophobic and leg room is extremely limited.

Maureen Murphy

Superb acting! It was thrilling to see such tremendous talent. In these performances, I was better able to see and feel the depth and complexities of each character and understand the messages Edward Albee might have been aiming to convey. Just wonderful. Thank you.

Janet

We attended this play as novices to the works of Edward Albee, drawn by the lure of both Conleth Hill and Imelda Staunton. On those grounds there was no disappointment. Both were brilliant, particularly Staunton, whose self-obsessed, drunken and vitriolic Martha was compulsive and uncomfortable viewing (the mother of my partner's ex was apparently exactly like Martha!!). I have only given four stars due to the long and drawn out ending, no less impressively acted but, rather like those films that you think are good but could have done with being a half hour shorter. After the 'pause' in the second act the energy built up by the furious and farcical exchanges between the characters just seems to drain away and all for a point that (to us) didn't seem worth making. I'm sure die hard Albee fans would think us Philistines as it was all part of his intentions but, I think a little editing would have left us walking away with a post-play buzz that most of the work infused us with instead of a flat, 'what the hell happened there?' feeling. In short, all credit to the actors, maybe Edward Albee is just not for us?!

ANTHONY WATTS

A brilliant production. Imelda Staunton outstanding.

Latest Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? News

REVIEW: Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? " Staunton and Hill are perfection. . ."

Reviews / Features

REVIEW: Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? " Staunton and Hill are perfection. . ."

Edward Albee’s Tony award-winning play has received a much talked about revival just months after his death in September 2016. Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf famously missed out on the Pulitzer Prize for 1963 after the board objected to its sexual references and profanities; this lead to no prize being awarded that year. 

3 Apr, 2017 | By Harrison Fuller

REVIEW: Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? " . . . a must see"

Reviews / Features

REVIEW: Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? " . . . a must see"

Multi Tony Award playwright Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf plays at The Harold Pinter Theatre until 27 May. However, with Imelda Staunton and Conleth Hill tearing through Albee’s heart ripping play, it is a shame that it isn’t playing indefinitely. 

22 Mar, 2017 | By Lucy Beirne

Imelda Staunton is back on Stage!Food and Drink in the Theatre

Features

Food and Drink in the Theatre

     Imelda Staunton (Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?) has recently divided opinion by saying she thinks food and drink in the theatre should be banned

20 Dec, 2016 | By Harrison Fuller

Imelda Staunton and Conleth Hill star in Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

Keep me updated

We'll tell you as soon as tickets go on sale: