That’s Love

Published Monday 7 April 2008 at 14:30 by Sheila Tracy

A beautifully constructed play that pulls at the heart strings while being highly entertaining. A singing and dancing trio from the sixties meets up again three decades later in a nursing home, where one member, Tony, is terminally ill.

Sarah, who married the leader, Frank, in spite of being in love with Tony, is distraught at the thought that time is running out for them. As memories of their life on stage are invoked, their younger versions appear singing and performing the dance routines, excellently choreographed by Joseph Pitcher.

This is a tour de force for Nicholas Ball as the mature Tony, who is rarely off stage, reliving his memories as portrayed by Jonathan Niton, alongside Monica Nowak as the young Sarah and Simon Turner as the young Frank.

Niton comes into his own in flashbacks of the young Tony as a stand-up comedian, which he handles extremely well, and for Nowak, a recent arrival from Canada, this is an impressive UK debut. Turner shows just a hint of the bitterness that surfaces finally as the last words of the mature Frank are delivered to his dying former colleague by Alan Rothwell.

There is a sensitive performance from Rula Lenska as the mature Sarah, who is heartbroken at what life has done to the trio and who only wants to be close to the love of her life in the short time that is left to them. Billed as a comedy, Ron Aldridge’s new play is something of a minor masterpiece and had this reviewer close to tears at the final curtain. Highly recommended.