SEVENTY-five minutes of unrelenting passion and drama on a hot summer evening may sound unappealing.
But time sped by in the cool of Malvern Theatres at Tuesday's opening performance of Sam Shepard's play Fool for Love.
The stark set, a motel room on the edge of the Mojave desert, resounded with raised voices, sobs, banging doors, shattering glass, a gun shot, explosion and the whistle of a lasso.
Cowboy Eddie (Joseph Bennett) says he has travelled over 2,000 miles to be with May (Julie Graham), but she has had enough of being loved and left.
Drawn together by passion and a mysterious past, consumed by jealousy and torn between hatred and desire, the two exude sensuality and raw emotion.
But in case this is all too much, there are diversions in the shape of the ever present Old Man (Paul Moriarty), the heard but not seen Other Woman and the Forest Gump-style suitor, Martin (Ken Christiansen).
Joseph Bennett is at his best after the entrance of Ken Christiansen, whose character introduces a touch of humour and a lyrical way with words.
A strange and disturbing tale unfolds and suddenly we see the relationship of Eddie and May in a new light as the play draws to its inevitable conclusion.
Directed by Erica Whyman and presented by English Touring Theatre, this is a remarkable drama, well worth seeing.
Kathy Don
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