Love All
Not so much a play as a biography, and not so much a biography as a history: event following upon event, scenes from the life of tennis great Billie Jean King and the times in which she played, adding up to a celebration, a paean, a great big "You've come a long way, baby," followed by an equally big "We're not done yet!"
With her insistence that the worker is worthy of her wage, that women's tennis be given the same consideration as men's, that she ought to be able to live and love as she wanted to live and love, she was a child of her restless age — hence the background images of marches in support of abortion and against the war in Vietnam, and the sound of Dylan crooning "The times, they are a'changing." It's rather less clear why we spend time on the assassinations of JFK, RFK, and MLK— despite King's saying "I feel the blood, it seeps through."Or even of fellow athlete Muhammad Ali's decision not to go to war — he sacrificed hugely for his cause, and while we see King struggle, it's hard to pinpoint an analogous sacrifice. At one point, she's told she'll never play tennis again, but while we know she triumphs over the opposition, we don't know how. Just like we don't know how she got back together with her husband after asking for a divorce following dual affairs, or what the fallout is after she comes out to her Christian parents, or how exactly she achieves her various victories within the tennis world.
The "that" of things will have to do. Names, dates, events, and some dramatic conversations —her back and forths with Arthur Ashe have some heft, as the two minorities debate strategy and even status. But mostly, it's King the steadily ascendant queen, taking on all comers and emerging victorious.
When
Ongoing until Sunday, July 2, 2023
Hours
| Sundays, 7:30pm-10pm |
| Saturdays, 7:30pm-10pm |