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Love in the Title
By Hugh Leonard
Directed by Charles Gerace
Produced by Irish Repertory of Chicago
At Victory Gardens Theater
2257 N. Lincoln Ave
Chicago, IL
Call 773-871-3000, tickets $34 - $38
Wednesday thru Fridays at 8:30 PM
Saturdays at 5:30 PM
Sundays at 3:30 PM
Running time is 2 hours, 15 min with intermission
Through July 2, 2006
“Life has to be lived forward and understood backward.” --Hugh Leonard
Clever, funny look at change in 20th Century Ireland rings with truth.
In Hugh Leonard’s 1999 comedy, Love in the Title, we find three women stranded in a meadow in rural Ireland. Simultaneously set in 1932, 1964 and 1999 the women are related—Katie (Alyson Green) exists in 1999 at age 37; Triona (Erin Myers) exists in 1964 at age 30 (she is Katie’s mother); while Cat (Julie Daley) exists in 1932 at age 20 and she is Triona’s mother and Katie’s grandmother. This thin premise works since each doesn’t know what their future holds so only Katie knows all of Triona’s and Cat’s future. Is this Katie’s hallucination?
The exchanges between the women aptly display the social mores and religious practices of Ireland in each time period. Cat is a free spirited, uneducated rural girl with the stigma of being born out of wedlock. She is the sexually active girl who yearns for marriage and respectability. Triona, dressed like Jackie Kennedy, is uptight about sex and is a socially conservative Catholic while her daughter is an unwed 37 year old liberated modern woman. The three clash over their values and all lament the changes that have over come Ireland. Cat struggles with the brutality of the nuns in the orphanage while Triona laments her loveless marriage and the loss of several of her siblings.. Katie, the inquisitive writer searches for reconciliation for leaving her mother 15 years earlier. Each come to grips with themselves being products of their times and each learns that change is uncomfortable yet an inevitable part of life.
Filled with much biting humor and poignant moments, Love in the Title is essentially a woman’s play that celebrates the indomitable spirit and the fierce determination and strength of Irish woman. While a tad too long and somewhat ‘talky,’ the play delivers a look at the feistiness of Irish woman.
Alyson Green and Erin Myers let their Irish brogues escape them at times and several times spoke much too fast to be understood. Julie Daley was so full of vibrant energy sporting a rich authentic brogue that she quickly wins us over. The other women eventually made us care about them. Leonard’s writing covered too much ground but ultimately he delivers a smart take on cultural change in Ireland.
Love in the Title is a serviceable show that women will enjoy.
Recommended
Tom Williams
Tom99@chicagocritic.com for comments
Talk Theatre in Chicago podcast
Date reviewed: June 8, 2006
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