Loveplay

Buffini honed her characters by observation of the populace around in her native London. She taught drama at London’s renowned women’s prison – Holloway - and so has seen all sides of life. This is obvious in her richly layered writing.

The scene is central London about 200 BC. The Romans are in charge and there follows a hilarious, bawdy romp where a soldier is trying to pay for a screw with a coin, and not the usual accepted currency of chickens! On the same block of land, as the centuries pass by, we observe the love lives of more than 30 very different citizens. Through the oppressive ecclesiastical era, and a Shakespearean period, via a ‘Lady Chatterley’ style tale to the flower power era of Hippies and free love.

The worry with a play, which is divided into about a dozen different and separate brief episodes, is that the characters, storyline and emotions won’t have time to develop. In this brilliantly produced play (producer Alison van Reeken), thanks to the passionate directing (Emily McLean) which grasped the natural dialogue of the script, the personalities are lucid and instantly recognisable.

Dare I say that I was amazed at the outstanding quality of acting from Andrea Gibbs (renowned for her stand-up comedy) and that of Kingsley Reeves (long admired for his tech work)? Along with a magnificent cast which includes Sarah Borg, Benj D’Addario, Renee Newman-Storen and Stuart Halusz each of the periods were riveting. All the characters portrayed were very differently, with every mannerism and emotion depicted.

It would have been an easy move simply to use symbolic props and costumes, but Caitlyn Ryan (costumes) and  Claude Marcos (set) have obviously carried out a great deal of research and settled for nothing less than authentic perfection. These merits, along with Lucy Birkinshaw’s sensitive lighting, give instant recognition to the eras.

Enthralling.