Review: Jeanette Cronin's I LOVE YOU NOW Is An Artfully Crafted Dance Of Deception And Denial

Wednesday 14th June 2017, 7:30pm Eternity Playhouse Darlinghurst

Jeanette Cronin's (writer and performer) New Australian play, I LOVE YOU NOW draws the audience into a world of love, lies, lust, and leaving things too long. Directed with a fluidity and ingenuity by Kim Hardwick, this intriguing two hander is a window into two lives that have drifted apart.

Over 90 minutes, on Isabel Hudson's recreation of a contemporary hotel room, the audience witnesses the complex web of lies and deception that June (Jeanette Cronin) and Leo (Paul Gleeson) have gotten themselves into as they try to work on their loveless marriage. With flexible timelines, the story moves between the present where the middle aged couple are trying to reignite their passion with role playing during afternoon rendezvous in the hotel and glimpses into the string of distractions they've had, past and present. June has been meeting up with Leo's twin brother Robert, her foreign personal trainer Helmut and the local priest. Similarly, Leo has been having affairs with Robert's wife Melissa, his son Kyle's Nanny Melissa and his therapist Doctor Shaw.

Hardwick has ensured that this work maintains a balanced pace of frenetic and reflective by utilising Martin Kinnane's lighting design and the live musicians that are, somewhat oddly, looking in to the hotel room from the window, to heighten the emotion and move time. Max Lambert(Keys) and Roger Lock (Guitar) have created a beautiful soundscape that reflects the changing moods, from June and Leo's tense, fractured awkwardness to the passion and excitement of the various affairs. The music also provides a marker between the snippets of stories whilst using an economy to ensure focus is drawn to the gravity of Cronin's text.

Cronin and Gleeson work through the octet of characters with changes in physicality and tone whilst retaining the same costumes throughout. As June, Cronin's subtle physicality captures the pain of wanting the reconciliation to work but being filled with doubt that the strategy will work which is in contrast to her vibrancy and playfulness when she is with her lovers. Gleeson's Leo is detached and disinterested when he's with June but alive and passionate with the other women. Having Cronin and Gleeson portray June and Leo's lovers takes a moment to follow at first but as the stories unfold the differences are more noticeable as it also highlights the understanding that each is looking something more adventure, passion, power and mystery than their marriage can provide.

T

his is an intriguingly complex work presented with a simplicity that, refreshingly, does not paint either the husband or the wife as the victim, but both having their faults but ultimately being June's story. Cronin's text is detailed, thought provoking and insightful as it exposes feelings to everyone apart from the person who they should be discussing them with if they wanted to have any hope of reconciling. Presented with an honesty and truth, I LOVE YOU NOW is both entertaining and heartbreaking, regardless of your experiences of love and relationships.

I LOVE YOU NOW

Eternity Playhouse

9 June - 9 July 2017