REVIEW

L.O.V.E (Volcano theatre)

Sherman Cymru (30.10.12)

What comes to mind when you think of Shakespeare’s Sonnets: Boredom? Sentimental romance? Or English lessons at school?

None of the above could be applied to L.O.V.E,  the passionate production recreated by Volcano for the company’s 25^th anniversary, based on the bard’s collection of classical poetry.

A winner of the 1993 Time Out Theatre Award, the red-blooded L.O.V.E still feels fresh and provocative, despite originally being produced 20 years ago.

A fusion of physical theatre, verse, songs and dance, expect to be surprised, challenged and at times bemused by this show.

I didn’t feel immersed from the start, but once the energetic performers started to interact with the audience I was drawn in— at this moment L.O.V.E really came alive (and left a few people blushing). It also features the most inventive use of a four poster bed I’ve ever seen.

Occasionally L.O.V.E felt repetitive, with the same sequences and sonnets performed several times. Also, I found the Shirley Bassey songs jarring, but perhaps as Volcano is Swansea-based they felt it was important to inject a Welsh flavour somewhere into the piece.

The production’s strength is that Shakespeare’s re-invented texts are given equal footing to the dynamic choreography, and are complimented by the frenetic action rather than smothered by it.

Volcano describes this work as “enduring and memorable”. I agree.  You wouldn’t want to wait another 20 years to catch a unique experience like L.O.V.E again.