Abi Morgan’s fragile, elusive and elegiac tear-jerker is directed by Scott Graham and Steven Hoggett, the co-founders of Frantic Assembly who combine text and physical movement in their own special manner and who have worked with Morgan before, in 2001, on the much-admired Tiny Dynamite. Morgan has also written the screenplays for The Iron Lady, starring Meryl Streep, and Shame, starring Michael Fassbinder. She is also the author of the BBC television series, The Hour.
Lovesong is a story of a childless marriage and covers the ups and downs over a 40- year period, beginning in the 1960’s when the couple in their twenties went to America where he practised as a dentist and she, against his will, became a librarian. The play, acted in 90 minutes, without interval, moves in a non-linear way to a haunting and deeply upsetting death scene.
It is the tender and poetic manner in which it is enacted which makes the production so well worth seeing. The stage is covered in leaves. A cupboard, a fridge, and a double-bed are used in unexpected and imaginative ways, occasionally against a back-projection of a flight of starlings. Sam Cox and Sian Phillips play the couple in old and frail age. Edward Bennett and Leanne Rowe play their younger more buoyant selves. The two couples appear on stage at the same time and occasionally interact with each other. Past and present are intertwined constantly and seamlessly. The understated performances and the beautiful movement are a joy to watch. The production transfers to the Citizen’s Theatre in Glasgow in February.