Love Song - Frantic Assembly

"Time is linear. When we die. I think we die. 

But until we do... I want that time to be with you."

Evening blog readers! So as my last post suggested I went to see Frantic Assembly perform their new play "Love Song" at the Lyric in Hammersmith on Friday. I said I'd review it and so here goes, bare in mind that I've only reviewed a few things before, actually it's only really been Sudentberry Jam! So if this goes badly, I appologise! 

  

I was introduced to Frantic Assembly just over a year ago by my AS Drama teacher, for weeks my drama class read their "Book on Devising Theatre" and watched DVD's of their work. At the time I never thought I would be able to see them live, as all their plays had finished and it didn't look like they had another on the way... lucky for me LoveSong by Abi Morgan was in the creative process. 

 The play began as soon as the audience started drifting through the doors, I'm still left wondering if many of the audience even realsied there was an actor on stage, from that moment on we were plunged into the world of Maggie and Billy, otherwise known as Margret and William, the story followed Maggie and Billy as they prepared for Maggie's iminante death. Through clever theatrical devices we were shown their past and present as both characters revisited their memories of each other. 

I'm an emotional person and I knew as soon as I read 3 reviews saying to take tissues that I would need a pack myself... I didn't realise to what extent. When a play moves you to tears you have to wonder why? Why did I feel so emotionally attatched that the smallest gesture made my eyes brim? Was it the script, the acting, the music? The truth is it's probably all of those things, without giving too much away each and every moment in Maggie and Billy's past resonates within you, your worst fears were played out infront of you. However the scripting was done so carefully that they never really confronted these issues, the only time they came close was when Maggie almost cheated on Billy... other than that everything was said through cryptic use of language and gesture. 

When the end of the performance came there was no doubt in my mind, I immediatly stood and joined a handfull of others in a standing ovation despite still wiping the tears from my cheeks. As a wanna-be actor I know the power of emotion and how good it feels to influence your audience this much. I cannot tell you which part of the performance I enjoyed most, although it was not akin to Frantic's usual high impact physical theare this piece used more gentle movements. An exaple of Frantic's classic "round by and through" was used in a beautiful dance sequence between the young couple, dancing around Billy and Maggie as they made lunch in the kitchen reminding us that the past was always interlinked with the present, captivated in the walls of their childless home.
From a technical view point  there had been projections onto a sreen upstage at various key moments, starting with swallows taking flight and ending with handprints like those of cavemen, this visual device gave the play an entirely different element and resulted in a beautiful performance by all.

In conclusion Frantic Assembly's "Love Song" is a must see, for anyone! Whether you love theatre or not you are bound to be moved by the script, entranced by the movement and captivated by the music.