A relationship retold on stage by two actors, no scenery and not a lingering kiss in sight

LOVE LETTERS by A.R.Gurney
with Gerry Hall and David Soul
at The Tivoli Theatre, Dublin




Love Letters by A.R. Gurney is a unique and imaginative play that reconstructs the lifelong correspondence between two school friends, Andy and Melissa. Through letter writing their relationship bloomed over 50 years and evolved beyond friendship, sibling bonds and romantic ties. Their respective spouses do not share in this exclusive relationship.

The play is pure theatre, unadorned, needing no large set, no lengthy rehearsal, just two people reading to each other from a book of letters. Over the performance we become involved in the lives of Melissa Gardner and Andrew Makepeace Ladd the Third from grade school to adulthood, marriage, divorce and middle age. Melissa (Gerry Hall) writes her letters with a good deal of spontaneity, speaking her mind in print. Andy (David Soul) writes his in a more mature, instructive, reflective way.

Gerry H all was very persuasive as Melissa, the over-indulged, spoilt child of the rich and privileged set. Through her performance we realize that having money did not enhance Melissa's childhood, rather, it became an accomplice to her being an undisciplined and unhappy woman all of her life. She played the part to perfection, from having to be persuaded to write letters in the first instance to being scarcely able to await their arrival. Her facial expressions moved beautifully from boredom to bemusement reacting to the hidden communication beneath the words of the other reader.

David Soul played Andy, throughout the play, as a strong, determined type. He is confident of his place in society and of his own expectations. What we were treated to was a very fine performance. Without the benefit of the physical interaction of other actors or even scene changes it is testimony to the actor's own resources that he could create a character for us. Any letter writers in the audience could not but have been swept up in his infectious enthusiasm for the almost lost art of penmanship.

The play works precisely because there are only two people on stage, reading to each other. We become involved in the pictures they paint for us of the commonplace in their shared lives. This type of play requires the audience's full attention and shouldn't encourage any distractions. The sound effects used were a distraction. There was no need for a telephone ringing and the Love Letters music should have been more background and not loud, as it was. Also, the execution of lighting was sometimes distracting. Fades were jerky and the spots not tight enough.

The play was credible, the performance was well paced and well timed. Both actors lines were delivered in a clear and articulate way. A consummate performance.

Play runs from 24 April - 3 May 08 - Tivoli Theatre, Dublin

Anne Hughes

Bookmark this page...

Latest comments

* Required fields

Something to say?