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<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><b style><span style="color:black"><span style="color:rgb(255,0,0)"><br></span></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><b style><span style="color:black"><span style="color:rgb(255,0,0)"></span><br>
</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><b style><span style="color:black"><br></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><b style><span style="color:black">Sam
Shepards FOOL FOR LOVE at convergence continuum </span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><span style="color:black"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><span style="color:black">Roy Berko</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><span style="font-size:10pt;color:black">(Member, American Theatre Critics
Association, Cleveland Critics Circle)</span><span style="color:black"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><span style="color:black"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><span style="color:black">Sam Shepard, the author of FOOL FOR LOVE, which is now in
production at convergence continuum, described the script as a very emotional
play and in some ways embarrassing for me to witness but somehow necessary at
the time.<span style> </span>The time was shortly
after breaking up his marriage to be with another woman.<span style> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><span style="color:black"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><span style="color:black">Much like the other plays in his Family Trilogy series,
which is actually a collection of five plays (BURIED CHILD, CURSE OF THE
STARVING CLASS, TRUE WEST, A LIE OF THE MIND, and FOOL FOR LOVE) Shepard
creates an allegory for his own loss and love, complete with a manic depiction
of ill-fated passion. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><span style="color:black"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><span style="color:black">His characters often reflect his family and personal
life.<span style> </span>He started to work on
a ranch as a teenager to support his mother and brother when his father lost
their farm.<span style> </span>The father Shepard
described as a drinking man dedicated to being an alcoholic. His dysfunctional
relationship with his father is often front-and-center in his writing.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><span style="color:black"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><span style="color:black">In FOOL FOR LOVE, which takes place in a run-down motel
in the Mojave Desert, May is hiding out.<span style>
</span>She has fled from Eddie,<span style>
</span>her childhood friend, old flame and half-brother.<span style> </span>Theirs is a love-hate relationship in which
they are bound to each other out of desperation. (May knowingly shouts at Eddie,
you are like a disease to me.) May left their trailer home and proportes that
she wants to start a new life,<span style> </span>A
life without Eddie.<span style> </span>But, they
simply cannot break their destructive cycle.<span style> </span>As they conflict, their father watches over them, commenting
on the actions, challenging the stories told and their interpretations.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><span style="color:black"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><span style="color:black">As is true in most Shepard plays, the characters, rather
than the plot, is of greatest importance.<span style>
</span>There are no issues that will be resolved, no happily ever after
solution. In fact, as the play ends, Martin, Mays new guy watches out the
window as Eddies truck and horse trailer go up in flames and May flees, but
there is no clarity as to where or from what?</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><span style="color:black"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><span style="color:black">Watching a Shepard play is an experience in emotional
tumult where identity is vague, truth and lies blur, and the characters pasts
haunt their present.<span style> </span>Memories are
altered to suite the needs of the dreamer telling the tale and are often
idealized.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><span style="color:black"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><span style="color:black">FOOL FOR LOVE had its off-Broadway premiere in 1983 and
moved to a Broadway theatre later that year with a cast of Ed Harris and Kathy
Baker.<span style> </span>A 1985 film version starred
Shepard himself with Kim Basinger.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><span style="color:black"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><span style="color:black">Shepard is extremely prolific.<span style> </span>He won the Pulitzer Prize for BURIED CHILD, an Academy Award
for Best Supporting actor in THE RIGHT STUFF, a Tony Award in Playwrighting for
BURIED CHILD, and an Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in DASH AND LILLY.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><span style="color:black"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><span style="color:black">The fifty-five minute con-con production, under the
direction of Amy Bistok Bunce, creates a surface level glance at Shepards
world. Shepard has said of his characters, and this is true in FOOL FOR LOVE,
that he doesnt expect an audience to identify with his characters.<span style> </span>These are not real people, they are
unidentifiable fragments of Shepards life and imagination.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><span style="color:black"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><span style="color:black">Rachel Lee Kolis is believable as the almost psychotic
May, who finds herself unable to come to terms with reality and move to save
herself from a life of chaotic frustration.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><span style="color:black"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><span style="color:black">Clint Elston stays close to the surface as Eddie, never
totally encompassing the nuances of the character.<span style> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><span style="color:black"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><span style="color:black">Robert Hawkes rocks away on his chair, drinking booze, on
a platform overlooking the action, and comments with ease on the machinations
of May, Eddie and his own life.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><span style="color:black"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><span style="color:black">Stuart Hoffman well develops Martin, Mays possible
suitor, as an innocent-simple who gets overwhelmed by stepping into a situation
beyond his understanding. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><span style="color:black"><span style> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><i style><span style="color:black">Capsule
Judgement:<span style> </span>Sam Shepard is noted
for taking audiences on illusionary trips.<span style> </span>FOOL FOR LOVE is yet another example of con-con asking the
audience to extend the conventional boundaries of language, structure, space
and performances that challenge the conventional notions of what theatre is.<span style> </span>Its a production steeped in Shepard
writing Shepard, which is missing some of his intended nuance.</span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><span style="color:black"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><span style="color:black">FOOL FOR LOVE runs through December 21 at 8 pm Thursdays,
Fridays and Saturdays at convergence-continuums artistic home, The Liminis, at
2438 Scranton Rd. in Clevelands Tremont neighborhood. For information and
reservations call 216-687-0074.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><br><span style="color:black"></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><span style="color:black"><span style="color:rgb(255,0,0)"></span><br>
</span></p>
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