[box]Theatre
“Love Song”
By John Kolvenbach, directed by Jordan Best, Centrepiece Theatre, at The Q, Queanbeyan Performing Arts Centre, until October 15.
Reviewed by Joe Woodward[/box]

“LOVE Song” provides an engaging and easy night’s entertainment. Performed with zest and clarity, Jordan Best’s direction ensures the work surprises and delights right through to the conclusion.

Kolvenbach’s play threads that line between the serious and the comedic. It develops from a funny exchange between an upwardly mobile couple exemplifying contemporary “cool”.

Jim Adamik and Jenna Roberts excelled and the comedy worked, while the more internal and surreal aspects tended towards cuteness. While this was probably Kolvenbach’s intention for a most-commercial play, it meant little was revealed of the internal world of the central character Beane.

Beautiful theatrics, through the use of scrim, gave us a fragmentary glimpse of the young man’s yearning for connection and love in a world that left him isolated and imploding.

The simple visual construction of these surreal scenes was contrasted with the more realistic depiction of the couple, who also were imploding until challenged by Beane’s behaviour.

The power of the production lies in its ability to seep into contemporary consciousness through a gentle and non-threatening way.