An Embrace of Passion and Hate

Fool for Love

Love and pain go hand in hand in Sam Shepard’s dark, 1983 drama. Sometimes it’s an embrace of passion mixed with hate. May is holed up in a rundown motel in the Mojave Desert when Eddie shows up. Portrayed by handsome Nick Gehlfuss, making his Steppenwolf debut, Eddie’s a good-old-boy, a cowhand turned stuntman, at least for the moment. He and May have a long and turbulent history together. Director Jeremy Herrin’s new production at Steppenwolf is guided with heat and an animalistic fervor that’s present from the very first moment. There’s also a feeling that we’re witnessing their relationship, not from its onset, but from the middle. A lot has happened before this one-act opens and, no doubt, their story will continue long beyond the final curtain. We find ourselves uncomfortably witnessing some kind of lovers’ battle that’s been ongoing for years. In between, we’re given a few sketchy details about the couple’s backstory and some hints as to where this tragic story may be headed down the road.

Sam Shepard’s love story is alternately laced with rage and need. As the play begins, we don’t know who these two young people are or have any details about their relationship. Played with tartness and seething sexuality by the wonderful Caroline Neff (a Steppenwolf ensemble member seen in countless productions, like POTUS, THE FLICK and AIRLINE HIGHWAY), the abhorrence and antagonism flows. May particularly doles out the venom, but then the passion and steamy lust builds to a frenzy. As the 65-minute production unfolds, we can only sit back and soak up the tension between this couple. 

Piecing together the shreds of dialogue, theatergoers determine that these two have been a thing, off and on, since they met in high school. But then there’s the Old Man, residing in their memories or imagination, or as if in a whole other world, sitting on a platform off to the side of the motel room. From him we glean a few pertinent facts. His utterances, delivered alternately to the audience or directly to Eddie and May, inform us that this bearded bumpkin is father to one of the characters. In fact, he may be father to both of them! A bigamist, the Old Man (played with a kind of churlish courtesy and glee by ensemble member Tim Hopper) is probably even responsible for the suicide of one wife. All this information further darkens what’s already a somber and sinister story.

Other characters figure into the play. A woman Eddie has been seeing now and then, who May snidely refers to as “The Countess,” suddenly arrives in the motel parking lot. We don’t actually see the lady but her presence is palpable and loud. Then, as May promised, her date for the evening arrives. Martin provides some comic relief for the play until he becomes a plot point. The rustic rube, portrayed with reticence and sweet country chivalry by talented company member, Cliff Chamberlain, mostly functions as our onstage audience proxy. As such, Martin listens quietly and offers a few comments, but by the end of the play he’s left alone.

There are three additional stars, whose work is a big part of this production. The talented Todd Rosenthal’s exquisite Scenic Design brings Sam Shepard’s locale to life. Somewhat reminiscent of an Edward Hopper painting, it’s a picture dripping in desolation and loneliness. The visual, including Heather Gilbert’s expressive and atmospheric Lighting Design, reflects the profound emptiness of Shepard’s characters. And completing the trio of this show’s tech superstars is Mikhail Fiksel’s thoughtful Sound Design, ranging from select melodies, country/western music and the sounds of automobiles and desert night noises.

Dropped into a story that already began years before, playwright Sam Shepard introduces us to a pair of lonesome lovers in the night. The couple’s pain is as raw as their passion is relentless and inescapable. Although we don’t know who May and Eddie are to each other from the beginning, soon theatergoers put together the puzzle pieces and figure it out. FOOL FOR LOVE, which was a finalist for the 1984 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, can be seen as a cautionary tale. It’s part of the playwright’s Quintet which also includes CURSE OF THE STARVING CLASS, BURIED CHILD, TRUE WEST and A LIE OF THE MIND (soon to be seen at Raven Theater) but, in Director Jeremy Herrin’s stunning production, it’s a full on embrace of passion and hate, a bittersweet love story for fools.    

Highly Recommended

Reviewed by Colin Douglas

Presented January 30-March 23 by Steppenwolf Theatre Co., in the Downstairs Theatre, 1650 N. Halsted St., Chicago.

Tickets are available in person at the box office, by calling Audience Services at 312-335-1650 or by going to www.steppenwolf.org.

Additional information about this and other fine area productions can be found by visiting www.theatreinchicago.com