Holed up in a seedy motel on the edge of the Mojave Desert, two former lovers unpack the deep secrets and dark desires of their tangled relationship, passionately tearing each other apart. Beaten down by ill-fated love and a ruthless struggle for identity, can they ultimately live with, or without, each other? Led by director Daniel Aukin (Back Back Back at MTC; 4,000 Miles), Tony Award winner Nina Arianda (Venus in Fur at MTC, Born Yesterday)and Sam Rockwell (A Behanding in Spokane, The Way Way Back) bring an explosive intensity to Sam Shepard's (Buried Child, True West) landmark myth of the new Wild West.
The tormented lovers in 'Fool for Love' are a broken-down cowboy named Eddie (Rockwell, wonderfully at ease in the role) and his beaten-down girlfriend May (Tony Award winner Arianda, exhausted from battle)...These ritualized couplings (carefully choreographed by David S. Leong) consist mainly of one lover throwing the other against the wall or across the bed -- although Eddie adds his signature touch of twirling a lasso...His legs bowed and his posture a perpetual slouch, Rockwell is so genuinely invested in this cowboy role that anyone would take him for the real thing...'Fool for Love' is far more physical than other plays by Shepard, and physicality is Arianda's strong suit. The actress has a remarkably supple back, which she uses in expressive ways -- curled in on itself like a beaten puppy, or hunched in a corner like a rabid dog.
Everything is in place for what really ought to have been a deeply scary, even deliriously entertaining visit back to midcareer Shepard-land. We have Tony winner Nina Arianda as an impossibly slinky, outrageously bold May and Sam Rockwell as a dirt-kicking Eddie who makes the most out of cleaning his rifle and can lasso a cheap dinette chair until you almost feel sorry for it. In fact, Rockwell doesn't just rope the furniture in director Daniel Aukin's hardworking physical production. The actor, who has clearly been practicing, also lassos Arianda...Although Arianda and Rockwell have the looks, the presence and the guts, there isn't the down-and-dirty chemistry that makes the fate of the lovers' long and conflicted relationship feel inevitable and dangerous...Suffice it to say that the violence feels phony and it's hard to get overheated about the fate of the characters.
1983 | Off-Broadway |
Off-Broadway |
2015 | Broadway |
Manhattan Theatre Club Broadway Revival Broadway |
Year | Ceremony | Category | Nominee |
---|---|---|---|
2016 | Drama League Awards | Distinguished Performance Award | Nina Arianda |
2016 | Drama League Awards | Distinguished Performance Award | Sam Rockwell |
2016 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Revival of a Play (Broadway or off-Broadway) | Fool for Love |
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