Love Story at the Duchess Theatre

Stories, we all know, have a beginning, middle and an end. So when you go to a play called Love Story, even if you’ve not seen the 1970 film, or read Erich Segal’s book, it’s a given that the love in the title will come to an end and in the case of this weepy romance, there’s no mystery as to how.

The play opens with the scene of a funeral where waspy lawyer Oliver, played by Michael Xavier, is grieving the premature death of his young wife, the feisty and talented Jenny (Emma Williams). Next the audience is taken back to the beginning of this relationship which we already know will climax in tragedy.

Jenny and Oliver meet as students. Though she is a poor yet talented music student, and he a wealthy lawyer in waiting, their teasing and tussling; wise cracks and snappy exchanges, demonstrate their unique compatibility. Both talented, smart and beautiful, their relationship is one of equal partnership.

Yet when Jenny is offered the chance to fulfill her life long dream of studying music in Paris, she turns it down by opting instead to marry Oliver. In supporting him through his legal studies, we know she is delaying the pursuit of her own dreams, not realising how little time she has to make them come true.

Because of this, the plot is somewhat irksome, especially by modern standards. However, thanks to dynamic performances, flashes of the chemistry that drew the lovers together come through, particularly the warm and endearing scene where the pair, disowned by Oliver’s wealthy parents, find joy in setting up home in their tatty first apartment.

Williams skilfully makes the bold and smart-mouthed Jenny come to life in a way that meant the audience fall in love with her with the same passion and ardour that Oliver does. Also, her scenes with the excellent Peter Polycarpou, who plays her expressive and adoring father, are among the most sincere.

Kudos too, to Xavier who, it has to be said, definitely gives good grief. It takes talent to evoke balance and sympathy in Oliver, given that, in the most brutal terms, the audience  would surely wish his character had died if his wife could have been spared.

This is a musical, and it is the greatest compliment to say that I often forgot the charming chamber music and swelling strings that follow the drama are hidden in plain sight, coming as they do from the back of the whitewashed set. That is how well composer Howard Goodall and lyricist Stephen Clark’s music meshes with the story being told.

However as we watched Jenny’s demise from leukaemia play out, the most notable sound was not the music, but the audience who’d become a chorus of stifled sobs. But why were we crying? Was it watching the roaring chemistry of true love fizzling to a cinder before our eyes? Or rather because a brilliant and vibrant young woman who never met her potential would now never get the chance? I know what it was that brought tears to my eyes.

Love Story is running until February 26 at:

Duchess Theatre
Catherine Street
Covent Garden
WC2B 5LA

Tel: 0844 412 4659

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Image: Michael Xavier & Emma Williams in ‘Love Story’