LOVE LETTERS
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An epistolary play, Love Letters celebrates the ritual, the fantasy, the dignity, the intimacy, the sensual pleasure of old-fashioned longhand letter writing, while at the same time recording the lives of a pair of correspondents. It charts the fate of two old-money, eastern-seaboard rich kids–Andrew Makepeace Ladd III and Melissa Gardner–from a childhood birthday party in 1937, through boarding school and college, to marriage, middle age, and a death 50 years later, tracing their on-again, off-again romance; their process of growing apart and growing together and ultimately becoming themselves.
Or failing to do so. Feeling pressure to assume the vaunted responsibilities of privilege, Andy Ladd continually makes good-boy choices that get him a seat in the United States Senate but deny him a wider experience, a fuller realization of his heart’s capacity. Melissa, meanwhile, takes a fairly direct career track from broken, alcoholic home life to broken, alcoholic adulthood–with only a minor but hopeful digression into painting along the way.
All the more so because the actors in the current Steppenwolf production will be changing off from time to time throughout the run. I saw Tom Irwin and Laurie Metcalf, and they were very fine. Metcalf, especially, gave a distinct life to Melissa. You’ll probably be seeing someone else, which will also be fine. Built light, Love Letters is nevertheless amazingly durable.
