Lovesong (Oberon Modern Plays)

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Rather than just getting the bill and admitting we were on different pages we chatted about the similarities! I say ‘watched’ but frankly I could only gaze at the play through tearful eyes; it is deeply moving without being in the least sentimental, achingly sad without being morbid. It's hardly surprising: Abi Morgan's love story, spanning the 40-year marriage of Maggie (Siân Phillips) and Billy (Sam Cox), is as tender as the bruised peaches that fall to the ground in the garden of the elderly couple's US home. Abi Morgan is a British playwright whose plays have been widely performed at theatres across the country, including the Donmar Warehouse, Traverse Theatre and Hampstead Theatre. It's not often that you hear mass sobbing in the theatre, but it's all sniffles during the latter stages of this new Frantic Assembly show.

Wheelchair spaces and their adjacent seats for accompanying guests are not available to book online. Another way in which Maggie and Margaret connected their characters was through the use of Brechtian-style gesture; both often pursed their lips to show displeasure. The magic realism of the story is also enhanced by occasional balletic movements well delivered by the older couple Phillips who was pushing 80 when the play was filmed is an astonishing dancer.Abi Morgan’s love story time-warps us through the 40 years’ marriage of Maggie (Siân Phillips) and Billy (Sam Cox). You can change your choices at any time by visiting Cookie preferences, as described in the Cookie notice.

Her plays include Skinned, Sleeping Around, Splendour (Paines Plough); Tiny Dynamite (Traverse); Tender (Hampstead Theatre);. This created the impression of the old couple’s love and passion having burned out, whilst the young couple’s relationship appeared vibrant and optimistic for the future. A crescendo of classical music faded into the scene as she tried to walk in her old shoes with difficulty. The sadness of mortality, the sense of loss, is balanced by the delightful quirkiness of Morgan's text, which is by turns playful and illuminating. Cox is equally pitch perfect as the old man grown irascible, haunted by a sense of loss except for one thing, the most important thing, his boundless love for Maggie.In Scott Graham and Steven Hoggett's beautifully choreographed production, today and yesterday are in a constant pas de deux with each other. An example of this was how as a younger couple, they seemed to discuss everything; children, jobs, ambitions, friends, however as they grew older the silences between conversations seemed to become longer, and conversational topics seemed to run dry.

Join Frantic Assembly Associate Simon Pittman as he leads you through a physical creative task inspired by the rehearsal process for our production of Lovesong. Maggie’s death was choreographed very simply, and yet managed to create an extremely sorrowful atmosphere.The story, which explores the endurance of relationships and decaying of the human body is brought to life, focuses on the entwining lives of William and Margaret (later becoming Bill and Maggie) as they progress through time together, and the audience witness their past and present selves collide in memories. The use of levels in this scene aided the visual impact; as their future selves were sat directly behind them. What we loved about those was the hero's grand romantic gesture that risked being missed or misunderstood by the object of his love. Lovesong is the story of one couple, told from two different points in their lives: as young lovers in their twenties and as worldly companions looking back on their relationship from old age.

is a question we all ask ourselves as we grow older, and while this show may be shamelessly emotionally manipulative with its musical underscoring and videos of rising flocks of starlings, the manipulation of time that is most heart-stoppingly effective. is as tender as the bruised peaches that fall to the ground in the garden of the elderly couple's US home. The kitchen and bedroom of Maggie and Billy's house, where the walls were never scribbled on by longed-for children, are stalked by the ghosts of their younger selves: the smooth-skinned, radiant Margaret (Leanne Rowe) and William (Edward Bennett). One example of this is through voice; both characters of Margaret spoke with a fast paced, pronounced British accent.

An aspect of the set left open to interpretation was the use of the autumn leaves scattered across the stage floor; I believed this was symbolic of decay and time passing. That sometimes bumpy relationship is drawing to a close as Maggie’s increasing and terminal frailty forces the couple into making some drastic preparations. This use of soft lighting and gentle music, which accompanied the couple’s conversation about death, made the audience feel remorseful and naturally captured the universal fear of ageing. Instead, they used much more subtle features to make it clear to the audience that they were the same character. The set was simplistic; only featuring basic statement furnishings of the house (such as the fridge, table, bed and wardrobe).