A Brief History of Romantic Love: thoughtful sleeze
A Brief History of Romantic Love could easily have been called "A Survey of Sexual Excess." A virginal young man falls in love with his own image in a forest pool in the manner of Narcissus, while a young woman wanders the world sleeping with every man she meets. In later life the same woman gives birth to fifty children, including sestuplets, septuplets, octuplets and Siamese triplets. Along the way, the adventuresome youngsters encounter a giant penis, tantric bunraku sex puppets, and a witch who steals men's semen for nefarious purposes.
It's a credit to the writer/director and cast that A Brief History of Romantic Love manages to rise above its own sophomoric content: plenty of would-be-edgy comedies get mired in their own foolishness, and more than a few script writers seem to think that lots of sex is an easy substitute for plot. In this case, the outrageous narrative remains buoyant thanks to intelligent, ironic dialogue and unerring comic flair.
Dancer Delia Brett plays a magnificent witch whose frigid manner and smoker's cough would put Cruela DeVille to shame, and whose physical quirks could out-Charlie Charlie Chaplin. Daryl King and Heather Lindsay are priceless as Johny and Betty, clueless lovers whose heavy-petting sessions constantly dissolve into metaphysical questioning. And as Betty's truck-driver husband, Alex Lazaridis Ferguson rocks the expressive facial tick and redefines the notion of well-endowed. Collectively, they deliver strong performances and keep a wacky plot on track.
Excess is a large part of what makes A Brief History of Romantic Love funny: moderately amusing ideas get pushed to such an extreme that they overwhelm all expectation; the story, with its questing lovers and magic-realist eroticism, begins to feel mythic. A Brief History of Romantic Love is multi-layered, and beneath the carnal capering is an intriguing exploration of gender expectations and sexual identities. That's not to say that the play doesn't wallow it's own sleeze, but it is well-crafted, thoughtfully packaged sleeze.
A Brief History of Romantic Love is playing right now as part of the Vancouver Fringe. For more information go here.