EMA Review: Love You Madly ** Still Hungry

By Paul Atreides

Author, Playwright, and Theatre Critic at EatMoreArtVegas.com

paul-atreides.com  

Playwrights need theatres to help develop their works. With the recent announcement that the Yale Drama Series Competition for New Works is ending this year, coupled with the Sundance Theatre Lab closing in 2021 and the Iowa Writers’ Workshop for stage plays being moved to the MFA program, it's terrific that Las Vegas Little Theatre (LVLT) does this.

While early drafts are sharpened by table reads and working with a dramaturg, competition winners offer the author the opportunity to work with a director and cast to really tighten a script. Actors and directors can offer valuable input during rehearsals by cutting or adding lines, or even changing a word to heighten tension or align more closely with the established character. Culminating in a full production is when you see how it resonates with audiences.

This year’s winner, Love You Madly, written by John McDonnell and directed by Ed Murray, doesn’t seem to have been afforded the treatment. When Act 1 of a two-act play takes 90 minutes, and the full show with intermission runs 2-1/2 hours, major cuts are needed. Many scenes repeatedly poked at the same point, and as a result, lost their comedy.

Overall, the script lacks focus. The opening scene came off as over-the-top, tongue-in-cheek, Noir comedy about forbidden love. Then, subsequent scenes came off as ‘live life to the fullest,’ then moved on to ‘live in AI or in real life,’ then moved to ‘cheating spouses,’ then to…. At the end, the question remained: What is the play about?

Director Murray needed to rein in his male actors. Devn Sheffield, playing multiple roles, goes for volume and over-emphasizes words. His Marcello would be funnier by being the suave and sophisticated Italian lover rather than loud and gravely-voiced. Greg C. Bolanos plays Josh, a 30-year-old convenience store clerk still living with his mother, on a single level, delivering lines with the same cadence and a high-pitched vocal tone to emphasize important words.

The women fare a bit better. Natalie Gunn as Jayne brings some nice levels. Hannah Jones, playing multiple roles, goes from Noir moll to Gen Z know-it-all and delivers some funny bits.

Early blocking has Gunn and Sheffield on and off a park bench like Jack-in-the-Boxes. Later on, Gunn is brought right in front of the audience to deliver a short monologue, when it would’ve been stronger to leave her in the chair. Sheffield gets the same direction later as Marcello voices a letter he’s written, which may have had more impact if it had been delivered behind Gunn.

Production values are pretty good. Chris Davies separates the small black box into three well-defined settings. Kendra Harris’s lighting adds to the sense of time and atmosphere. The costumes for Jones and Sheffield are wonderful; they’re bright and fun. But the continued Mary Jane shoes and anklets don’t fit when Jayne rediscovers her carefree self.

Despite the flaws, if you love theatre as much as this critic does, I urge you to go. Competitions like this are the only way we get plays like the recent Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime and the upcoming Come From Away.

What: Love You Madly

When: 7 p.m. Friday - Saturday

            2 p.m. Saturdays & Sundays through May 24

Where: Las Vegas Little Theatre - Mainstage, 3920 Schiff Drive

Tickets: $20* - $37 (702-362-7996; www.lvlt.org)

*Students under 18 – call during Box Office hours

Grade:  ** Still Hungry

Producer: Las Vegas Little Theatre; Director: Ed Murray; Set Design: Chris Davies; Lighting Design: Kendra Harris; Sound Design: Devin Sheffield; Costume Design: Richard Holtsberg, Julie Thornton; Stage Manager: Nicole Marie