A major new Oxford Playhouse production of Edward Albee’s Tony Award-winning modern classic Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? will run from Friday 20th February to Saturday 7th March 2026. It’s the first in-house Playhouse show directed by Artistic Director Mike Tweddle since he took up post in 2023.
First seen on Broadway in 1962, Albee’s ferocious, darkly witty drama pits college professor George and his wife Martha against themselves and a younger couple, Nick and Honey, in an after-hours drinking session that spirals into psychological warfare. It’s a razor-edged study of marriage, myth-making and the stories we tell to survive.
“There is no other play like it,” says director Mike Tweddle. “A wildly entertaining and emotionally profound evening, with jaw-droppingly inventive language… an unforgettable theatrical moment for Oxford.”
This landmark staging arrives as the 60th anniversary of Mike Nichols’s celebrated 1966 film adaptation approaches, the version that immortalised George and Martha in the performances of Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor, and nods to Oxford’s own history: the 1966 OUDS Doctor Faustus that famously starred Burton and featured Taylor as Helen of Troy.
Creative team
- Director: Mike Tweddle (Out of Chaos’s Macbeth; formerly Bristol Old Vic/Tobacco Factory: A View from the Bridge, Beautiful Thing)
- Set & Costume: Liz Ascroft (The Rise and Fall of Little Voice, Beautiful Thing, Royal Exchange Theatre)
- Sound Design & Composition: Max Pappenheim (The Night of the Iguana, Cruise – West End; A Raisin in the Sun, Headlong)
(Production presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals Ltd. on behalf of Samuel French Ltd.)
Need to know
- Dates: Fri 20 Feb – Sat 7 Mar 2026 (previews 20–24 Feb)
- Venue: Oxford Playhouse, Beaumont Street, Oxford
- Tickets: from £15 (booking fees may apply)
- Age guidance: 14+
- Running time: 3hrs 15mins, two intervals
- Content warning: Strong language, violence and adult themes
- Access/Extras: Audio Described + Touch Tour, Captioned performances, Pre- & Post-show talks (see schedule below)
- Box Office: 01865 305305 • oxfordplayhouse.com
Performance schedule (highlights)
- Fri 20 Feb, 7.00pm — Preview (Friends 50%, 14–25s £5)
- Sat 21 Feb, 7.00pm — Preview
- Mon 23 Feb, 7.00pm — Preview
- Tue 24 Feb, 7.00pm — Preview (Friends 50%, 14–25s £5)
- Wed 25 Feb, 7.00pm — Evening performance
- Thu 26 Feb, 1.15pm — Matinée (Friends 50%)
- Fri 27 Feb, 7.00pm — Evening performance
- Sat 28 Feb, 1.15pm — Audio Described + Touch Tour
- Sat 28 Feb, 7.00pm — Evening performance
- Tue 3 Mar, 7.00pm — Evening performance + Post-show Talk (Friends 50%, 14–25s £5)
- Wed 4 Mar, 7.00pm — Captioned + Pre-show Talk
- Thu 5 Mar, 1.15pm — Captioned matinée
- Thu 5 Mar, 7.00pm — Evening performance
- Fri 6 Mar, 7.00pm — Evening performance
- Sat 7 Mar, 1.15pm & 7.00pm — Final performances
