Love can be a difficult thing, fraught with complications, twists and turns, ups and downs. JHUT’s brilliant production of Fool for Love, Sam Shepard’s 1980s play about a turbulent Western couple, explores and amplifies love’s labyrinth with subtle, insane strength.
Tightly directed by James Glassman, Fool for Love is set in an aging motel room somewhere out West. Eddie (senior Michael Alfieri), a stuntman, attempts to woo back former lover May (sophomore Aubrey Saige Pevsner), who has fled from him in order to escape their tempestuous relationship.
May accuses Eddie of cheating on her with a rich woman from home, and tries to convince him that she has moved on, body and soul — she has a job, she’s dating — but he refuses to leave, cementing himself in the room with a lasso, saddle, and decanter filled with alcohol.
The couple’s spat escalates into a full-on battle, peppered with anecdotes from a mysterious Old Man (senior Kelly McNamara), who sits on a trailer outside the motel, swigging Jim Beam straight from the bottle.
When Martin (sophomore Gaurav Dhar), a “man” May has been seeing, comes to pick May up for a movie date, a drunk Eddie unveils the dark truth behind his and May’s relationship, along with the penetrating secret that plagued both of their childhoods.
Fool for Love is difficult play to parse out. For most of it, the audience is kept in the dark, allowed to see and understand only the immediate lovers’ spat that unfolds in front of them.
The Old Man’s cryptic interjections amplify the confusion, but without giving anything away; the fact that the relationship is shrouded in mystery is part of the fun, and the climax hits with hearty, devastating punch.
More importantly, JHUT’s production was comprised of impressive, outstanding performances that elevated the narrative to its full force.
As the leading lovers, Alfieri and Pevsner created fully fleshed characters that fluidly convey their pain, anguish and heartbreak, allowing the audience to sympathize and identify with them easily.
Alfieri’s performance as Eddie was flawless. His acrobatic delivery dazzled with a winning combination of wit and woe, making Eddie’s wide range of emotions fly off the stage and seep into the audience’s own.
Alfieri’s performance was so strong it seemed, at first, to overshadow that of Pevsner, who’s May was considerably quieter, though no less impressive. Pevsner held her own against Alfieri’s Eddie, drawing her character’s vulnerabilities out and slowly draping May’s suffering — subtle at first, then supercharged — across the stage.
McNamara’s performance as the Old Man, though brief, was also powerful. At first, the Old Man seemed like pure comic relief, an attempt to showcase cracks in an aging cowboy.
As the play wore on, however, it was clear that the Old Man was more than that, and McNamara’s ability to shift from hilarious to heartbreaking was right on the mark.
Dhar’s performance as Martin was perfunctory, though not quite as strong as the others. Martin, however, served more as an expository character, which gave the actor less to work with.
Driven by commanding performances, JHUT’s production of Fool for Love is a fantastic foray into the wicked world of wounded lovers, combining humor with dark romance and the tragedy of truth.
Performances run this Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m., Sunday at 2 p.m. Tickets are $5 for students, $13 for faculty, and $15 for the general public.
Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The News-Letter.