CityLife

George isn’t afraid to recall Holby

George Irving returns in Who’s Afraid Of Virginia Woolf

David Thacker, the artistic director of the Bolton Octagon, has gained an international reputation for staging the works of Arthur Miller, but now he’s assembled a first rate cast for a play by another American playwright – Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

“This is one of my favourite American plays,” Thacker explains. “American plays move me deeply and I know that audiences can be grabbed
and entertained in a very powerful way.”

Written almost 50 years ago as a stage play, Albee’s award-winning work is a ferocious yet strangely entertaining examination of the breakdown of a marriage and it was later made into a film starring Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton as Martha and George.

At the Octagon, Margot Leicester and George Irving, who’ve previously performed on stage in All My Sons and Ghosts, are reunited to play the leading roles.

George, whom you may recognise as Anthony Meyer in Holby City, is sanguine about being associated with a character he played nine years ago. “It doesn’t bother me,” George insists.

“I had a great time on Holby because when we started there was only one ward so we had time to develop our characters, but three years and as many new wards later on, I knew it was time to leave.”

The 57-year-old is also one of the few actors to have appeared in both Coronation Street and EastEnders. “In Corrie I was Ken Barlow’s boss when he became a journalist. In EastEnders I was Dirty Den’s unwelcome criminal lodger  and it made good drama.

“On the day EastEnders first pipped Corrie in the ratings, the Green Room was littered with champagne bottles!

“If appearing on television brings fans into the theatre for the very first time then I’m just delighted.’

George, who plays Martha’s embittered husband, is a fan of the Octagon. “I can’t tell you how chuffed I was to win a MEN Theatre Award for Shining City and later to work with Margot again particularly on this beautifully written play,” he enthuses.

“Albee wrote it in 1962 and 50 years on it still has relevance. It’s impossible to update it completely because there are references to the Kennedys and it’s about America during a period of transition – which it still is today. But the breakdown of this dysfunctional marriage is timeless. George and Martha are two lost souls and their marriage worked until the rules were broken.

“This terrific play, like life, also has its humorous moments and with David Thacker at the helm we’re in safe hands.”

Who’s Afraid Of Virginia Woolf is at the Bolton Octagon until October 15. Tel: 01204 520661, octagonbolton.co.uk.