Fool For Love
Young Centre for the Performing Arts 50 Tank House, Toronto, Ontario M5A 3C4
by Sam Shepard. (Soulpepper Theatre). Former lovers meet again at a motel in the desert. Previews from Jul 13, opens Jul 18 and runs to Aug 4, see website for times. $38-$98.
MINI REVIEW
This slick revival of the late American playwright’s 1983 classic about a macho cowboy trying to coax his fed-up ex-lover to get back together is timely in its deconstruction of cyclical violence and masculinity, but doesn’t lock into the intensity a wildly tempestuous melodrama requires. Stars Cara Gee and Eion Bailey are cranked up to 11, but the production, featuring a memorably lurid motel set, over-relies on comic beats in the script to vary the emotional tenor rather than a convincing rapport between its two leads.
NNN (Kevin Ritchie)