Love Bites is a modern “in your face” drama by Ignus Fatuus Theatre Company about a couple, Stephen and Claire who are doomed to a depressing and borderline abusive relationship.
The production values for this fringe production were good and the staging was crisp and effective, however the characters were so difficult to sympathise with that it was quite unpleasant to watch. The dialogue had potential for comedy and it’s possible that the playwright was intending to satirise the bland and chauvinistic personality of Stephen.
Unfortunately however because the character of Claire was so pathetic one was unsure as to who we were laughing at and it all became slightly awkward. Stephen constantly berated Claire for gaining weight and because he didn’t get his comeuppance and Claire showed no sign of strength or intelligence ever, the whole thing felt misogynistic. I think the playwright may have intended the TV chef to be expressing Claire’s inner feelings of rage towards Stephen, but if this was the case then we needed to see at least a glimmer of this in Claire’s dialogue and performance. The references to industrial lubricants also went totally over my head. It’s a shame the production was flawed because there was potential in the theatricality of the script and there were moments which were visually effective and visceral.
One particualry effective moment was when the TV chef tips a salt cellar over Stephen’s head and the salt cascades down as he continues to eat, completely oblivious to the salt falling off his hair and on to the floor. However, the playwright needs either to steer clear of gender stereotyping and get a handle on how couples (and in particular women) actually speak, or if he is attempting to parody stereotypes then this needs to be better executed.
The idea of a TV chef commenting on the action was effective and provided some much needed moments of dark humour but some re-writes and dramaturgy are necessary for this play to fully develop.
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