Penobscot Theatre Company bites off a big piece of American theatrical history with its staging of “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” While director Mark Torres and his cast manage to chew through the flesh and nibble at the bone of Edward Albee’s three-act masterpiece, they do not get at the marrow of the play.

And, greedily sucking out the marrow of a loved one is the stated goal of Albee’s characters. Despite its visceral nature, there is a symphonic quality to the story of “Virginia Woolf.”

Torres and his actors never find that delicate balance between the play’s melodic undercurrent and its discordant swells. They capture the nuances in the melody but leave them behind in the wake of Albee’s raucous crescendos that Torres turns into cacophonous dissonance that bear little resemblance to the playwright’s sonorous themes. It is not that the actors get too loud, but they shake off the intriguing dimensions the playwright gave them and become cardboard cutouts of themselves.

Ginger Grace plays Martha, the loud-mouthed drunk who throws fuel on every fire just for fun. Physically, the petite actress appears untouched by years of drinking, but she perfectly captures the alcoholic who believes she has good reason to drink.

The actress finds the lusty soul of the character and portrays the woman whose intellect has been undervalued by the times, but Martha’s underlying despair never quite rings true. Grace gets close to Martha’s core quite often, but just misses cracking it open.

Alex Cherington portrays George, Martha’s verbal sparring partner. The actor perfectly plays the smug history professor adept at the politics of campus life, but bored by it. He prefers to go mano a mano with younger faculty, battering their smug arrogance. This is where Cherington excels.

Yet, the actor never believably portrays George’s humiliation as he’s lashed by Martha’s tongue. Cherington portrays George’s wounded manhood like a schoolboy beaten on the playground rather than a spouse whose psyche has been skewered by his soul mate. It never looks like it hurts.

Kae Cooney and Rob Gallavan portray Honey and Nick, the young couple unwittingly drawn into George and Martha’s marital web.

Cooney understands that Honey is the ghost of Martha’s past. She finds in this seemingly innocuous young bride the viciousness beneath a thin, sweet veneer. Cooney brings a depth of understanding to what some critics have called an underwritten character. Her portrayal explains as much about Martha as it does about Honey.

Gallavan’s Nick is not quite arrogant or cocky enough to challenge Cherington’s George. Instead of focusing on beating the professor intellectually, Gallavan puts more emphasis on emasculating him. That is part of Nick’s game, but not its essence. The actor is too ineffectual to portray Nick as a George-in-the-making and the audience’s understanding of both characters is lessened.

Despite the flaws in PTC’s production, this delicious bit of American theatrical history should not be missed.

“Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” will be performed Wednesday through Sunday at the Bangor Opera House. For information, call 942-3333.