Following a university faculty party, a fiercely combative middle-aged couple invites a younger husband and wife over for late-night drinks, trapping their unsuspecting guests in an alcohol-fueled night of vicious psychological games.

Yep, this rips. It’s such a star-driven sell-out, I feel a teensy bit guilty giving it a rave. But, for as good as Billy and Gillian are, what really makes Marianne Elliott’s production sing is Miriam Buether’s staging. They know it, too; the ad copy is very proud that this is the first major revival to be granted wide latitude for scenic design after opinionated Edward Albee passed away in 2016.

It’s staged in the round in an immaculate mid-century living room - Eames chair, built-ins, bar cart, hexagonal-quilt sofa, altogether too much red and orange. Circular, no walls. For me, it set in only after about twenty minutes or so that the whole thing was rotating - so slowly, though, that I had to find a point of reference to stare at to convince myself I wasn’t imagining it. The intimacy really suits the Four People Arguing in a Living Room genre - you see everybody from every angle, from near and far. At times, two actors will leave the stage and the rotation will close off that exit with the sofa for several minutes, intimating it’s about to get tense for the other two. It all gives the impression of a great clock or a slow roulette wheel, both of which dovetail nicely with the play’s themes.

With due respect to the younger actors - fine foils, both - this is really a showcase for Gillian Anderson and Billy Crudup. I’m of just the right age to have seen Gillian in about 5,000 things before, but the way she inhabited belligerent, booze-soaked, hypersexual Martha still surprised me. She’s got crazy range. Billy might be even better as the emasculated geek, George - he goes from so feeble to so cruel on a dime. Can I get you another drink? Long play, but would love to see them do it again. Fingers crossed for a transfer whenever Circle in the Square opens up.