Love, Love, Love

Love, Love, Love

Roundabout Theatre Company

The Laura Pels Theatre

October 1, 2016

Photo courtesy of
Roundabout Theatre Company

In Love, Love, Love, now playing at the Laura Pels Theatre, playwright Mike Bartlett takes his audience on a journey of ideals, compromises, and perseverance.  Director Michael Mayer keeps the action focused in this three act play that spans forty years.  The stellar cast in this Roundabout Theatre Company production is funny, jarring, and honest in their portrayals of flawed characters moving along in life, who never really give up on the dream.

It is 1967 in London and the Beatles are performing live on television.  Henry (played by Alex Hurt) invites his date to his flat for dinner.  His brother Kenneth (played by Richard Armitage) is saying with him while receiving grant money to go to Oxford, and is definitely cramping his style.  When Sandra (played by Amy Ryan) finds herself more interested in the non-conformist Kenneth that her conservative date, Henry, she does not hold back in making her move.  Fast forward twenty years to Act II where Kenneth and Sandra are married with two teenage children, Jamie (played by Ben Rosenfield) and Rose (played by Zoe Kazan).  The couple has clearly compromised on their rebellious ideals, but it is not until Act III that they face their shortcoming and the fact that “all you need is love.”

The cast of Love, Love, Love
Photo courtesy of Roundabout Theatre Company

The maturity that Richard Armitage develops in his character from one act to the next (each a twenty year jump) is truthful and realistic.  He becomes resigned as the decades pass, yet retains his energy, sincerity, and optimism.  Amy Ryan enters with a roar in Act I and shocks you senseless.  She then does it again in Act II and Act III.  Her character ages gracefully, and never loses her brash demeanor.  Ben Rosenfield creates the character of Jamie in the spitting image of his father, Kenneth.  His posture, gesture, and expressions illustrate how it is much more than just genetics that make up a family.  Zoe Kazan delivers a strong performance as Rose.  Her character is the darkest member of the family.  She is touching and damaged, and clearly her mother’s daughter.

Love, Love, Love makes a strong statement of the effect the ideals of the baby boomer generation has on their adult children.  The characters are realistic, selfish, and true to their word.  You will definitely see yourself reflected in one aspect of their personalities or another.  The play is running at the Laura Pels Theatre through December 18.

Domenick Danza