Untitled Love Story is an elegant, serene and innovative drama from this ‘theatrical maverick with a propensity for fearless experiment’ (Financial Times). The audience relax, close their eyes and are guided through a meditative visualisation that interweaves and echoes alongside four narrative strands all set on the silky nocturnal canals of Venice. Read more …
Narratively, we encounter four characters in four different decades who never meet. A priest teaches meditation in a Venetian monastery only to be accused of heresy. A writer moves to Venice only to find her partner disappears. An art historian’s serene exterior stands in stark contrast to his terrifying night sweats. A legendary art collector eats roasted songbirds that were drowned in cognac.
This sophisticated and provocative play from ‘Scotland's hottest, edgiest young playwright’ (Sunday Times) is his first piece in a conventional theatre space for some time but, true to form, innovation is still the order of the day. In recent shows his focus has been on unusual locations and new technology, but in Untitled Love Story it is the audience themselves who make the central transformational shift, closing their eyes and participating in this meditation-as-theatre performance.
There is definitely the nub of something rather wonderful in Leddy’s script, while his four-strong cast all give fine performances in this tale of love and loss across the years in Venice. Perhaps a smaller space and a less extravagant staging would have been the answer.
A thoroughgoing letdown.
The show's guided meditation elements break up an already fractured narrative and are an acquired taste.
David Leddy's Untitled Love Story
St George's West, Edinburgh from Friday August 5, 2011, until Monday August 29, 2011. More info: http://www.remarkable-arts-ltd.com/