'Woolf' revival still crackles.(News)

0 Comments | Daily Herald (Arlington Heights, IL), March, 2007 | by Vitello, Barbara

Byline: Barbara Vitello Daily Herald Critic at Large "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" * * * * out of four Try to keep your eyes off Bill Irwin. Go ahead, try. He doesn't make it easy, not with the mesmerizing, brilliantly crafted performance he delivers in the superb revival of Edward Albee's "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" at Chicago's LaSalle Bank Theatre.

Irwin plays George opposite Kathleen Turner's Martha in Albee's incisive, caustically comic epic on dysfunctional marriage. An exceptional physical actor, Irwin infuses the placating, brow- beaten, undistinguished history professor George (who's stronger and more menacing than he initially appears) with an array of seamlessly integrated mannerisms and expressions. With Irwin, there's always...