THEATRE: FOOL FOR LOVE
“Have you ever been in a really, really, really, really, really, really, really toxic relationship?” asks Justin Stewart Cotta. He plays Eddie in Fool for Love, a production on the cusp of debut at Belvoir St from the direction of the NIDA-trained, Imara Savage. Set in real time, on-again, off-again lovers, Eddie and May are holed up in a seedy, desert motel. Written by Sam Shepard, renowned for confrontational creativity, this set-up is not intended for romantic bliss. Told in a relentless, yet rhythmic pace that remains faithful to the original text, each character goes on the attack when ugly aspects of the relationship are exposed. “It’s a quite a surreal play” says Emma Jackson, in the role of May. “There’s a real fantasy element to it, that we’re exploring with different elements, of music, and movement.” Stewart Cotta further adds that as the story is set to the backdrop of Middle America, the fantasy version of America, this allows for an exploration of ‘all these inconsistencies between dreams and realities with the characters…” The only major departure from the realistic setting of the play is the dynamics of space. Although the staging loses sound effects intended for amplification of emotion, Stewart Cotta believes the claustrophobic nature of the Downstairs Theatre makes up for it. “That’s the beauty of the space,” says Jackson. “To put a play like this, which is extremely explosive, and shouldn’t be polite in any way, shape or form, in a space like that is really quite confronting and exhilarating at the same time – I hope.”
Sep 30-Oct 24, Belvoir St Downstairs, 25 Belvoir St, Surry Hills, $24–32, 9699 3444, belvoir.com.au
