œThis is a play, or rather a sort of play, which needs no theater, no lengthy rehearsal, no special set, no memorization of lines and no commitment from its two actors beyond the night of the performance. It is designed simply to be read aloud by an actor and an actress of roughly the same age, sitting side by side at a table.
This is what the plays author, A.R. Gurney, had to say about his Pulitzer Prize nominated play, ˜Love Letters, a play as deceptively undemanding as Gurney portrays it and which has attracted actors of renown to the challenge of playing its letter writing lovers since its premier production in 1988.
Bucks County Playhouses production of ˜Love Letters can boast theater royalty too.
Tyne Daly, who is well-known to television audiences for her roles in Judging Amy and Cagney and Lacey as well as to theater goers for her many appearances on the Broadway stage, plays the impulsive, impetuous, unstable Melissa Gardner.
Next to her at the table is the Oscar-winning actor, James Earl Jones, who plays Andrew Makepeace Ladd, III, a staid, no nonsense lawyer.
The nakedness of Gurneys conception for the plays performance lures the audience into the power of its compelling intimacy.
Uncomplicated by scenery, lighting and œbusiness Gardner and Ladd read fifty years of love letters to each other over a table on an otherwise empty stage.
Beginning as children with thank you notes and post cards from camp, Gardner and Ladd have shared their lives and their love for each other, which endures through distinct careers, successful and unsuccessful marriages, political campaigns and her drinking problem in five decades of correspondence.
In the 21st century, the art of letter writing is fast fading from our culture. Emotions, events and even intimacy are shared on an illuminated screen in 140 invariable characters or less.
The smell of perfume, the tremor of anger in the script, and the effusiveness of passion have been sacrificed for technology, immediacy and speed.
In ˜Love Letters, all of that and more are resurrected and offered to the audience as their letters reveal the intimacy of the lives Gardner and Ladd lived apart yet together.
˜Love Letters is playing for two nights, October 20 & 21, at the Bucks County Playhouse in New Hope.
A reception to benefit the Playhouse will follow Saturday evenings performance at The Barley Sheaf Farm.
Tickets are $165.00 with all net proceeds to benefit the Bucks County Playhouse Theater, Inc.
Both performances are sold out. However, you may inquire about a waiting list by calling 215-862-1212.