In Pascal Rambert‘s play, life is not a bowl of cherries. It’s a cycle, with a blissful beginning and a bitter end.
The beginning of the play may catch some people off guard. Is it a play within a play? Is it the manifestation of subconsciousness? A realistic exposition of a dormant volcano ready to erupt? Whoever has been in a long-term relationship understands that dreadful feeling of reaching a breaking point. No more interest, no more longing for shared moments. No more separation anxiety. No more fire. It’s the realization that the idealistic vision of a forever love has come to a gradual stop, slow and painful. Then, exhaustion and disappointment drain whatever is left, and suddenly, someone is desperately searching for a way out. How to articulate all of that? Well, Beejan (Beejan Land) seems to be an expert at doing that. Insensitive, hurtful, and devastating, his words leave his mouth like an expanding bullet whizzing through air, piercing right through the heart of the person in front of him. That person being Ann (Ann Sommerville), his life and business partner.
But if you think Beejan’s tirade is excruciating, just wait for Ann’s response. It’s a perfect picture of a crystal palace crashing to the ground, breaking into a million pieces. How does it feel to love someone beyond one’s strength? What is it to build a meaningful narrative of a love story, one interaction at a time? It was dreamland for Ann, until the implied notion that the life project would last till death do us apart comes to an abrupt end, three kids and a theatre company later. Beejan articulates the punch. Ann articulates the pain.
The dialogue is visceral. It’s like watching two fighters producing daggers and going at each other mercilessly. These two characters do not hold anything. Those interactions represent both the idyllic dream and the brutal nightmare. There is, of course, an interesting subtext in all of this mayhem. Just like the French New Wave of the 50s and 60s, Rambert deconstructs institutions. In an iconoclastic position, Love’s End is the realistic analysis of marriage and love. Ann represents the romantic idea of everlasting love, in all of its noble glory. Beejan, on the other hand, is the reality of life, in all of its cruel ugliness.
The characters do not only utter words, they utter ideas, desires, dreams, hopes, and pain. There’s an eerie beauty in Rambert’s dialogue that is captured brilliantly by Maurice Attias‘ direction, and expressed so eloquently by Land and Sonneville. Love’s End is a challenge and a gift. Minimal physical movement, minimal set design. Every word and every silence counts. The minimalist design is an artistic choice to expose the rawness of the subject matter. It’s on the actors to deliver the emotional and philosophical weight of Rambert’s dialogue and the sublime interpretation of Attias’ direction. And they nail it. They punch, feel, fall, get up, attack, retrieve, and lick their wounds, with all of the intensive kinetics encapsulated in the lacerating dialogue. They fire their missiles at each other from a considerable physical distance, a representation of the emotional distance between them.
Love’s End brings a unique concept. It feels experimental and raw. It’s a dissection of the most pure elements of life, a different approach to theatre, French style. See it, live it, feel it. It will linger afterwards.
Pascal Rambert is a French playwright, director, and choreographer with an extensive list of directorial credits and he is the recipient of numerous awards around the world.
Maurice Attias has 50 years of experience directing in France, the US, and other countries. Attias has directed previously at the Odyssey and was invited back by Producers Lucy Pollak and Beth Hogan.
Clôture de l’amour (Love’s End)
Odyssey Theatre
2055 S. Sepulveda Blvd.
Los Angeles CA 90025
May 17 through June 15
Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. / Sundays at 2 p.m.
Tickets: odysseytheatre.com
Written by Pascal Rambert
• Translated from the French by Jim Fletcher and Kate Moran
• Directed by Maurice Attias
• Starring Beejan Land and Ann Sonneville
• Produced by Beth Hogan and Lucy Pollak
• Presented by the Odyssey Theatre Ensemble, Beth Hogan, Acting Artistic Director
Creative team: Set Design Stephanie Kerley Schwartz. Costume Design Denise Blasor. Lighting Design Jackson Funke. Stage Manager Jennifer Palumbo. Poster Artist Luba Lukova.
