It's very good watching a mirror break in slow motion. ( )

At first glance the middle aged main characters George and Martha reminded me of [The Twits] a Roald Dahl classic. Their constant bickering and mean, vindictive mind games made me question their love for each other. In another respect it was as if it was used as somekind of bent mating ritual.
Their mind games continue when they begin to prey upon a young couple visiting them after a dinner party.
The conversation between the couples is almost unbelievable. Almost too cutting, provocative and prying for people who have just met each other this very night. In this way the play seems to date itself. It seems very 1960ish, when swingers were the rage and alcohol flowed freely.
I came away with George being misunderstood by his wife yet very perceptive and in a way helped this young couple realize what they really wanted out of life. I recommend this interesting and thought provoking read. ( )

Rereading this ferocious play, I was struck by the natural speech patterns and the plausibility of the circumstances portrayed. This intense scrutiny of the behaviour of four unlikeable people remains utterly fascinating. Although it has the potential to be a near-perfect play, reading the script is not as satisfying as seeing a performance. ( )

Great play; but riveting movie. Hard to add to so many excellent observations. But I have always felt this was a play about how detrimental conformity can be. George and Martha have to conform to the stereotype of professor and wife. The trade off for job security and social acceptance wears away at them both individually and as a couple. Their periodic over indulgence in alcohol reveals their quashed dreams to their guests and is a warning that complete pandering to authority anywhere, diminishes self-worth.

This dazzling work of gut-wrenching dark comedy presents perhaps the most memorable of married couples...in its power to strip away layer after layer of a social pretense to expose the naked nerve of truth, [the play] is one of the most riveting and unforgettable experiences of the American theater.