I didn’t take many notes watching “Fool For Love†this past weekend atAlliance Theatre Lab in Miami Lakes. How could I? To look down in the darkened playhouse and find an open space to scribble down my thoughts almost seemed insulting to the actors, because it would be ignoring, if only for a few
seconds, the maelstrom of physicality and emotionality unfolding on the thunderstorm of a stage.
Written in 1987, “Fool For Love†is one of the most renowned and existential works by Sam Shepard, who’s blessed enough to have another fine production of one his plays running over in Plantation, at the Mosaic, at the same time. But it takes a certain kind of sustained intensity in acting – a dedication to a complete immersion into two characters’ darkest recesses, bumps and bruises not only possible but likely – to pull this one off. Not every theater company is up to the task.
It’s about a pair of apparently on-again, off-again lovers, May (Jehane Serralles) and Eddie (Arturo Fernandez). Eddie, a lanky, volcanic cowboy, has driven thousands of miles to a shabby motel on the edge of the Mojave Desert to be with May – and to take her away from potential dangers that he has recently put himself in. May rejects him, smelling his previous lover on him, only to cling to him moments later. Insults, fisticuffs, pratfalls and slammed doors are exchanged, followed by moments of tender affection, and then it’s back to war again. If these two had Facebook accounts, their relationship status would no doubt be “It’s complicated.â€
Complicating matters further are the play’s two supporting characters, Martin (Jameson Hammond), a man with whom May has organized a date the day Eddie arrives, and The Old Man (George Schiavone), the ghost of Eddie’s father, who sits conspicuously in a battered rocker at the side of the stage and occasionally interacts with the characters. As this lean, one-hour play progresses, dark secrets about May and Eddie are revealed, which explain their behavior and turn “Fool For Love†into a bleak tragedy.
To say that the two lead performers exert the required amount of insane dedication to these disturbing characters is an understatement. Though her Southern accent occasionally disappears, Serralles is the very picture of uncontrollable urge, and the duality of her emotions regarding Eddie is completely convincing. Fernandez is a revelation as Eddie, capturing his character’s volatility and fragility with extraordinary extremity. And Schiavone, though he has only a handful of lines throughout this chamber piece, looms large and imposing, and we begin to look forward to his revealing interjections.
Director Adalberto Acevedo handles his actors using the urgent realism of overlapping dialogue. Occasionally, Eddie and May talk over each other, and we’re OK with not catching every word, because that’s how intense arguments often play out. Howard Ferre’s sound design is spot-on, adding booming thunder to every slammed door, and Jodi Dellaventura’s scenic design properly conveys a ramshackle sense of inescapability. It’s a fine vision of entrapment for this elegant study of doomed love, a Shakespearean parable burning under the Southwestern sun.
“Fool For Love†runs through Sunday at Alliance Theatre Lab, 6766 Main St., Miami Lakes. Tickets are $15 to $25. Call 305/259-0418 or visit www.thealliancetheatrelab.com.
