By Tracy Hawkins
“Love Song” by the screenwriter and playwright Abi Morgan plays through June 23 at Inis Nua and you need to get over there right away. Director (and Inis Nua’s Artistic Director) Kathryn MacMillan has assembled a first-rate cast, an even better technical team, with the end result of an evening of riveting theater.
Meet Maggie (Mary Martello) and Billy (Kirk Wendell Brown), a long-married couple approaching the sunset of their lives together as Maggie battles terminal illness. Meet Maggie (Taylor Congdon) and Billy (Gabe Moses), a young, recently married couple moving through their lives together with all the ups and downs that make a marriage. Throughout the play, a beautifully choreographed dance of the past and present brings a bittersweet story to the stage.
‘”Love Song” is now onstage at Louis Bluver Theater at the Drake in Philadelphia.
Mary Martello is one of the treasures of the Philadelphia stage, and she brings her A-game to the ailing Maggie, who has fight left in her, but only for the important things. The poignancy of Mr. Brown’s performance is so very touching – how do you take care of someone who takes care of you? How do you prepare to live without the one person who means everything? Ms. Congdon and Mr. Moses have a heavy lift in sharing the stage with these two, but their youth and sweetness in starting out is touching, and they seem to grow in maturity as Maggie and Billy do.
It’s not often that the ‘off-stage’ work on a production is as noticeable as the onstage, but in this case it is, and in the best possible way. One almost never sees the direction of a play (and you really shouldn’t), but Ms. MacMillan has the perfect touch. She has the actors moving in perfect harmony, coming and going, from young to old, while at the same time allowing their performances to shine through.
The set design (Meghan Jones), costumes (Barbara Erin Delo), lighting (Christopher Chambers) and sound (Damien Figueras) all pull it together. The Louis Bluver Theater at the Drake has limited space, but they’ve made the most of it. The set is intriguing from the first moment but held even more surprises as the evening progressed. For a fairly short show, there are a surprising number of costume changes, and each one is spot-on for the character and the period. The lighting effects are also exceptional, particularly as the neon colors change to reflect the action on the stage. The sounds of birds, children playing, music from various periods over the years of their marriage also bring the audience into the moment. All in all – a captivating evening.
If you go: “Love Song” runs through June 23, runtime 80 minutes, no intermission. Tickets at https://inisnuatheatre.org/show/lovesong.