Staircase Theatre presents Love Letters, directed by Ryan Gladstone. Sweet and heartbreaking, Love Letters
is the story of a 50-year correspondence between Melissa Gardner and
her childhood friend-turned-love-interest, Andrew Makepeace Ladd III.
Gurney’s play, a Pulitzer Prize finalist, has been performed in theatre
spaces all over the world, from the New York Public Library to Broadway
to Carnegie Hall and back again. A smash hit both off and on Broadway,
this limited Valentine's engagement includes appearances by real
couples of the Vancouver theatre scene. Andrew and Melissa’s story will
be told by a different couple every night, including: Meghan Gardiner & Todd Thomson and Mack & Kaitlin Williams Gordon, Michael Fera & Tanja Dixon-Warren and Karin Konoval & Tom McBeath. Love Letters runs from February 11-14 at The Shop.
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| [image taken from VancouverPresents.com] |
In the age of instant communication, iPhones and Twitter, Love Letters
brings memories of a simpler time. Through notes, letters and cards,
two friends and would-be lovers, discuss the life that has passed
between them throughout their separated lives. Simple and haunting, the
playwright wrote Love Letters intending it to have a simple execution,
not requiring any set or prior memorization. The letters are meant to
be read out by the actors, and the audience invited to share in this
authentic experience with the characters. Gurney write in the author’s
note: “The play is designed to be read aloud by an actor and actress of
roughly the same age, sitting side by side at a table.”
The two-character play takes the audience on an
emotional ride through the lives of free-spirited Melissa Gardner and
the conservative, law-abiding Andrew Makepeace Ladd III. Wealthy and
privileged WASPs, they’re lifelong friends and sometimes lovers who
share their most intimate thoughts through 50 years of notes, cards and
letters.
“In
its oblique and unaffected way, Love Letters illustrates this universal
truth: that so much of life, probably most of it, is a solitary
journey, a letter we write only to ourselves." - Charles Isherwood, NY
Times.
Director Ryan Gladstone
has recently completed an MFA in Directing at UBC. Recent Directing
credits Hunter Gatherers (Staircase Theatre), Ubu Roi, The Russian
Play (UBC). Recent Writing/Directing credits include Who Killed Gertrude
Crump?, Assassinating Thomson, Til Death: The Six Wives of Henry VIII,
Houdini's Last Escape (Monster Theatre). Ryan founded Monster Theatre
in 2000 and has since created 25 original plays as writer and sometimes
actor, and sometimes director (No Tweed Too Tight, The Shakespeare Show,
Hockey Night at the Puck & Pickle Pub, The Canada Show).
Tickets available online!
