Volcano Theatre

Shakespeare's Sonnets Prompt L.O.V.E.

L.O.V.E., a production of Volcano Theatre, is playing at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. The movement-centric show draws its dialogue from Shakespeare's sonnets. Photo by Phil Rees, Volcano Theatre.

The Swansea, Wales, theater company Volcano has remounted its original show L.O.V.E. based on William Shakespeare's sonnets with an eye toward taking it on an international tour. The show is currently playing at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland through August 25.

Its dialogue drawn from the sonnets, L.O.V.E. first appeared in 1993, when it won a Time Out Theatre Award and toured to festivals all over the world. The company describes the show as "a highly charged and athletic" entanglement among "three recklessly passionate lovers and some of the greatest poems in the English language." It was revived 10 years later to visit Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan under the auspices of the British Council. It ran into trouble in Georgia, where the show's exuberant sexuality (specifically, a lingering and tender embrace between two men) angered the Orthodox Church and led to sabotage and a near-riot, according to the company's press release. The same scene was met with boisterous cheering and wild applause in Azerbaijan.

Re-creating the show is part of Volcano's 25th anniversary celebration.

L.O.V.E. was originally directed and choreographed by Nigel Charnock, who passed away last year. Paul Davies is restaging it with James Hewison as movement director, both of whom were in the original 1993 cast. The current cast is Tibu Fortes, Joseph Reay-Reid, and Mairi Phillips.

The 1:20 show is currently playing at Assembly Roxy, 2 Roxburgh Place, Edinburgh, Tuesday through Saturday at 11:15 a.m. For more information, visit click here.

August 16, 2013

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