BATH’S Summer Season opens with one of the greatest of all American plays, Edward Albee’s 'Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?' starring Clare Higgins and Tim Pigott-Smith.

This multi award-winning masterpiece is set during the course of one brutal and hilarious night when George, a college professor, and his wife, Martha, invite a young couple back for late-night drinks after a faculty party. As the alcohol flows, the guests are coerced into witnessing and participating in George and Martha’s sadistic game-playing and vitriolic verbal scrapping which reaches its climax in a momentous revelation.

First staged on Broadway in 1962, the impact of its vicious wit, frank language and riveting characters firmly established Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? as one of the great plays in post-war American drama, winner of both the Tony Award and the Critics’ Circle Award for Best New Play. Its reputation was further enhanced by Mike Nichols’s 1966 film adaptation, starring Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, which won five Oscars.

Clare Higgins stars as Martha. One of the greatest actresses of her generation, the winner of three Olivier Best Actress Awards for her performances in Hecuba at the Donmar Warehouse, and for Sweet Bird of Youth and Vincent in Brixton at the National Theatre.

Tim Pigott-Smith stars as George, after receiving rave reviews for his performance in Mike Bartlett's King Charles III at London’s Almeida Theatre, a production which is set to transfer to the West End this Autumn.

Who’s afraid of Virginia Woolf? appears at the Theatre Royal Bath from Wednesday, June 18 to Saturday, July 5. Visit www.theatreroyal.org.uk for more details.