Fool for Love
Sam Shepard prefaces his 80-minute emotional blitz with words from Archbishop Anthony Bloom: "The proper response to love is to accept it. There is nothing to do." An inspiring, Hallmark card sentiment. But what if the "love" is between a half-brother (Eddie) and his sister (May)? And between their father and two women? The play, now in a capable production at New Village Arts, takes place in a run-down motel on the edge of the Mojave (the moldy, lime-colored walls for NVA's set look as if they've got the flu). Eddie drives 2480 miles to see May; theirs is a 15-year-long attraction/repulsion - brought on, like Greek tragedy, by the sins of the father? Fool for Love should move like a spontaneous, extended tantrum ("relentlessly," Shepard's stage note reads, "without a break"). NVA's opening-night performance, with doors slamming and fists pounding the walls, hit that note more often than not (and showed every sign that it will grow), though the minor roles could use rethinking (Greg Wittman's Martin is just bland; Jack Missett's Old Man, too glib and superficial). As the lovers, Joshua Everett Johnson and Kristianne Kurner deliver quality efforts, as expected, but there are deeper, more primal levels they could shoot for.
Worth a try.
When
Ongoing until Sunday, October 26, 2008
Hours
| Sundays, 2pm |
| Thursdays, 8pm |
| Fridays, 8pm |
| Saturdays, 3pm & 8pm |