RIDGEFIELD — Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf takes the audience on a journey to the deep dark places in the soul that people don’t talk about in polite company.

Ridgefield Theatre Barn’s production of this classic American work fearlessly takes on this challenging, riveting piece provoking laughter, tears and anxiety. An Edward Albee play never holds back from letting its characters rail in a manner that will make you squirm.

David Bass has done a beautiful job of directing this piece which requires continual shifts in tempo and pacing to capture the crescendos and the crash and burn.  He is gifted with a splendid cast to fulfill his vision.

George and Martha, played by Bruce Tredwell and Nancy Anderson respectively, live on the campus of an upstate New York college, of which Martha’s father is the president. The entire three act play takes place in their living room following a faculty party.

Martha has invited a young couple over to share a nightcap, or a dozen. Honey, played by Kimberly Knispel, and her biology teacher husband Nick (Daniel Ross Willey) are literally a captive audience to George and Martha’s dysfunction, until they become participants. It is late, alcohol is flowing and no holds are barred. Nothing is sacred.

The disappointment and betrayal in George and Martha’s marriage becomes fodder for brutal discourse which is in turns funny and shocking. Sweet Honey and her doting husband are gradually seduced into revealing their own secrets and pain.

Things unravel.When George grits his teeth and glares at Martha uttering, “I’ve got to find a new way to fight you,” those in the audience realize this is not the breakup of a marriage, it is the essence of the marriage. George and Martha are locked in this constant state of conflict as their method of communication. They need each other. 

Nancy Anderson as Martha tears the house down. She and Bruce Tredwell as George are both excellent actors.

 The rage, the subtle innuendoes and all that lies between the two are deftly portrayed by these skilled performers. They get each other.

Kimberly Knispel as Honey charms in her naiveté. As the straight laced, yet easily persuaded Nick, Daniel Ross Willey is convincing.

During the introduction to the play, the theater’s executive director said that this cast and crew have worked incredibly hard for six weeks. It shows. They make it look effortless. They move about the worn living room set as though they own it. 

The set, designed by Myles Gansfried, gives off the perfect vibe as the home of a middling professor with a wife who has things other than decorating on her mind. Costume designer Susan Salzberg has dressed the characters to come undone in time with the action, and it plays both comically and pathetically.

Creating “morality out of the disorder of men’s lives” is what many of Edward Albee’s plays do. Going to the place where our most basic instincts hide, he opens the hatch and lets it all out.

The performances alone are enough to compel audiences to show up in droves. The play itself is a vital piece of American theater. This excellent production of it should not be missed.

(Performances continue Friday and Saturday evenings through June 27. There are also Sunday afternoon matinees scheduled for June 14 and 21.

Tickets are $24 adults, $20 for students, senior citizens and veterans, and are available by calling 203-431-9850 or visiting ridgefieldtheaterbarn.org. Directions to the theater and other information is also available online.)