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L.O.V.E.
Showing at
1 Hope Place Liverpool
15th November 2012
Reviewed by
Brought to Unity by , 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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