L.O.V.E.

Showing at Unity Theatre
1 Hope Place Liverpool
15th November 2012

Reviewed by Jennifer Keegan

Brought to Unity by Theatre Company Volcano, L.O.V.E takes on the world famous sonnets of Shakespeare. Turning their back on the tedious classroom interpretations from our school days, the actors bring to life the bard’s words with passion, desperation and tenderness. With the help of Shirley Bassey’s timeless lyrics, the trio of performers bring to their audience the real meaning of physical theatre. Originally produced twenty years ago, re created by Paul Davies but still using the original choreography from Nigel Charnock, this revival showcases the talented trio of Tibu Fortes, Andrew Keay and Mairi Phillips as the lovers.

The physical aspect of the show was not restricted to the stage; as well as writhing around each other onstage, they also took the audience by surprise by climbing over, gyrating on and kissing all over a random selection of theatre goers - quite literally forcing the passion of Shakespeare’s poetry onto the audience. The trio managed to depict the range of emotions that love brings: passion, excitement, arousal, joy, contentment, jealousy, anger, despair and rage beautifully, to the point where the words almost became irrelevant as their bodies moved to show these feelings perfectly.

As an avid Shakespeare fan I found this production absolutely breath-taking. Every word that was whispered, shouted or mouthed came to life as the trio of performers proved to us that even in its purest moments love hurts. The knife that was used onstage gave this erotic play a dangerous feeling, perhaps reminding us of how powerful and unpredictable love can be. The performers committed to this more than I have ever seen an actor or dancer commit to a role before, resulting in a gripping, highly charged eighty minutes, and an example of how physical theatre should be done.

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