Naima Khan reviews the disappointingly straightforward Love Love Love by Mike Bartlett at Royal Court Theatre
Mike Bartlett's Love Love Love has ageing economics at its core, which is a shame as the ageing philosophy he explores with it, albeit in less depth, is far more interesting and well handled. He follows a couple who meet in the '60s and charts their success alongside their children's struggles. While money here causes resentment, the confused ideology causes a more palpable hurt.
That ideology begins with The Beatles, with love and freedom and the destruction of rigidity that made way for possibility in the '60s, when Kenneth and Sandra – played to perfection by Ben Miles and Victoria Hamilton – leave behind Kenneth's stuffy brother Henry (a thin and thankless part for Sam Troughton) for a life of dreams and academia at Oxford.
As with the excessively long and overly functional first act, placing his characters at Oxford is the first in a series of obvious disappointments in Love Love Love. A play that looks at widespread economic success experienced by a generation doesn't need to make this synonymous with an educated elite.
But whether it was down to their education or the beginnings of exponential globalisation and unprecedented opportunities for capitalists, Ben and Sandra have a security for themselves and ambition for their offspring, and their financial woes seem to settle on private school fees for their violin-tutored kids. Through sparky, comedic arguments Mike presents them as examples of a generation that not only boomed but boomeranged; despite the philosophy of their youth they become more conventional with age – something facilitated by the state of the economy. But this isn't anything new.
Then with his dexterous writing which shines in his characterisations, Bartlett begins to look at the theories the parents pass on to their children, which naturally stem from their own regrets. But he does it very obviously. There's room for more questioning, and more interrogation of the parents, their ideals, their confusion and their contradictions, but we get something too straightforward. Fortunately the perfect casting of Victoria Hamilton as Sandra pays off brilliantly, as she embodies her character's animated, enthusiastic, unconventional parenting. She not only has the audience in stitches but presents us with a gloriously eager but flawed mother who struggles to be there for her kids and have her own life.
“We didn't climb the ladder,” she says of being a woman in the workforce, “we made it.” This outburst after being confronted by her now 37 year-old daughter in the final act is when Mike allows a short but meaty discussion on ideals and advice passed from one generation to another. But disappointingly, he settles on an economic conclusion and “it's not fair” really doesn't pass as insightful.
His mistake is providing a simplistic summation of a generation – arguably the job of a journalist not a playwright. He misses an opportunity to show us things we already know from a vantage point we haven't considered, but I can't deny how well he knows his characters and how excellently he brings out their humour.
Love Love Love runs at Royal Court Theatre until 2nd June
More in Theatre:
Tenet at Gate Theatre
The Conquest of the South Pole at Arcola Theatre
Like our Facebook page
Click here for Theatre in London
Click here for Things to do in London
Image by Johan Persson
Add an event
Mac DeMarco, East End Live and Bleached: Editor's Choice - Live Music.jpg)
Tuesday 21st MayMac DeMarco @ The Garage Mac DeMarco // "My Kind of Woman" by capturedtrac...