Love Letters by A.R. Gurney

Love Letters and Two Other Plays
by A.R. Gurney [812 Gur]

A.R. Gurney’s 1988 play, Love Letters, has become a modern classic of the contemporary theater. Featuring only two actors, who don’t actually interact directly at any point in the events of the play, the entire production is a series of letters sent between the two characters, Andrew Makepeace Ladd III and Melissa Gardner, and read aloud by each of the actors. Beginning with simple notes when they were children, and following their tumultuous friendship through several decades, this series of correspondence covers topics both banal and exceptionally emotional. When produced on stage, this play can be done with no set pieces — the actors sitting side by side but never looking at each other. Or at opposite ends of a stage, also never glancing in the other’s direction — their entire attention focused on the letters in front of them that they are reading. This is a powerful work, plumbing some raw depths of vulnerability, touching on mental and emotional instability. If you have have a chance to see it performed, I encourage you to do so. I also invite you to read the original work here in the libraries’ collection, in script format!

[ Love Letters on Wikipedia ] | [ official A.R. Gurney web site ]

 

Recommended by Scott C.
Bennett Martin Public Library

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