Love Song

Love Song
By John Kolvenbach. Director: Glen Hamilton. The Tap Gallery Downstairs (NSW). 11 June -22 June 2014

Love, like music, is invisible

This is a fascinating play, by a mature and clever writer, which premiered at the renowned Steppenwolf Theatre Company in Chicago in 2006. This Sydney season is creatively directed and passionately acted by members of the Gamut Theatre Company. After experiencing a season of mediocrity in Sydney theatre, this play restored my faith in the stage as a place to reveal important ideas and powerful emotions.

In Love Song four quirky characters inhabit the small playing area downstairs at the Tap Gallery where their snappy dialogue and fast pace quickly draw their audience into their mysterious tale and keep us riveted. There’s a happy couple, the wife’s quirky brother and his inscrutable lady friend. There is rising tension, fear of madness and copious love. Life can be damned difficult, but friendship and love can make it bearable and sometimes even beautiful. There is a wonderful message contained within this play, which never turns sickly sentimental.

Working in this small space, with limited lighting and sound capability, is never easy, but this skilled team run this show smoothly and with considerable power. Mel Hyde as Joan and Ben Scales as Harry are a likable and funny couple who squabble, caress and love each other so powerfully, that Joan’s brother Beane (Ford Sarhan) wants some too. So, as well as his sister and brother in law, he loves his doppelganger Molly, who adds a new dimension to his life. These two couples live in different worlds, but they are never far apart.

The many scenes in this play are negotiated with subtle lighting changes, a bulb that glows brightly and dimly (like brother Beane) and a simple set design that indicates the transient lifestyle of Beane. Director Glen Hamilton has structured this production astutely and made it work well in a difficult space. And the cast fully inhabit the characters and bring their story to life. Don’t miss it.

Stephen Carnell

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