How Love is Spelt is a beautiful play by Chloe Moss that receives a moving, lyrical, sympathetic and meticulous production by Brickdust and Project One at the Southwark Playhouse in London.
The play tells the story of Peta,
a girl of twenty who has left her home in the north of the country and gone to
live in London. She lives in a tiny apartment consisting of a convertible couch
and a couple of other amenities. She meets four people in the play, and we
follow her encounters with them with all its humour and pathos.
Larner Wallace-Taylor gives a
sensitive and moving portrayal of Peta who is searching for something in a city
where she is lost. She discloses information about herself sparingly and
sometimes untruthfully. She is dreaming of a career in advertising or fashion design
but we have no reason to take these ambitions as anything but wishful thinking.
Larner Wallace-Taylor and Nigel Boyle. Photo: Ali Wright
Peta is sympathetic and empathetic
with the people that she meets but no one is able to provide her with what she
is searching for. Wallace-Taylor is an expressive
actor but she also reacts and responds to the other actors attentively and
movingly. Your attention may be drawn to the speaker but you should also watch
her facial expressions and body movements to understand the situation. A
wonderful performance by Wallace-Taylor.
The first person we see Peta with
is Joe (Benjamin O’Mahony), a muscled stud whom she met at a bar and slept
with. The muscles in his arms do not stretch to his head and he talks
compulsively revealing that he is shallow and full of himself. His first
illiterate concern is to get confirmation that his performance in bed was good.
We learn some things about Peta especially in the end when he tries to force
himself on her and leaves with excruciating pain in his testicles. Excellent
performance by O’Mahony.
Peta’s second date is Steven, a
pathetic teacher who also talks compulsively. He is a misfit who is unable to
have a meaningful relationship. He talks about himself incessantly describing a
pathetic human being - himself. Peta’s sympathy and empathy for him do not
reach him and he skulks out of her apartment. Steven is played very well by Duncan
Moore.
Peta meets Chantelle, a young,
modern woman of the city who is out to have fun. When we meet her in Peta’s
apartment she is vomiting her head off because she drank far too much and has
the inevitable hangover. She is as much a misfit from a broken family as Peta.
Kudos to Yana Penrose for fine acting.
Peta returns from the bar drunk and
she falls down the stairs. She is rescued by Marion (fine and sympathetic acting
by Michelle Collins), a middle-aged woman who has the soul of a saint in her
attempts to help Peta. She smokes and talks continuously about helping Peta and
her pathetic life. She comes from a broken home and is another pitiful human
being, another misfit that comes into Peta’s life.
Throughout the performance we see
a black and white photograph of a man prominently deployed on Peta’s bedside
table. She lies about him to her visitors but in the final scene he comes to
her apartment. He is Colin (Nigel Boyle) the man she left behind when she ran
off to London. He speaks haltingly as the two try to make emotional contact. It
is not easy for them but their love comes through and if they can’t express
themselves they at least know how to spell the word.
Kudos to director Charlotte
Peters for sensitive directing and to Georgia de Gray for the effective set.
The play was first produced in September 2004 at the Bush
Theatre in London and this is its first revival.
___________
How Love is Spelt by Chloe Moss played until September 28, 2019 at the Southwark
Playhouse, 77-85 Newington Causeway, London https://southwarkplayhouse.co.uk/
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