Love Song

Do this play.

Maybe it's just the joy of discovery, but this was the most delightful read I've had so far. I don't know who John Kolvenbach is and have never heard of the show. I simply stumbled across it at the Dramatists Play Service website trying to fill this theme month. It's certainly not a Great Play, and I doubt there's $7500 coming Kolvenbach's way (although it did get nominated for the Olivier Award). But is it a Very Good Play, free of the weight of pretension and full of life and energy.

It's an exciting read, in large part because of how Kolvenbach writes the dialog. I will endeavor to save a thousand words by using this picture:

Bracketed words, italicized words, capitalized words, italicized capitalized words ... and that's not even capturing any of the footnotes scattered throughout the text that give a little more color to the line. It's all a bit much at first, and I initially felt like it might be too restricting to the actors. But it eventually fades away, and becomes like a musical score: Once I learned how to read the notation, I could hear the electric crackle of the speech, feel its pace and vibrancy, see the briskness of the movement. It's a fascinating attempt to communicate the play Kolvenbach obviously saw in his head.

As you might expect from the title, Love Song is about love, as a lonely maladjust finally finds someone to be with. It's a very simple play, and I probably shouldn't have been caught off guard by the simple twist. But it's not overly concerned with plot: it's about character and emotion and delicious, delicious language.

Do this play.

(In fact, if anyone from SLAC is reading this: really do this play. At least read it. It's very castable with local actors, the play is in keeping with your style, and Keven Myhre would brilliantly solve a pretty bloody tricky set design.)

Next Week: Betrayal by Harold Pinter