'Love Letters' transports island audiences
Photos
The Royal Palm Players production of A.R. Gurney's "Love Letters" featuring Boca Grande-based actors Ann Fletcher and John Shaw and directed by Tad Ingram attracted near capacity audiences and standing ovations during its four-day run ending Sunday at the Boca Grande Community Center.
The play, which traces the 50-year correspondence between Melissa Gardner (Ann Fletcher) and Andrew Makepeace Ladd III, (John Shaw) resonated with audiences and strong acting and direction brought the characters and letters alive.
Under Ingram's sensitive direction, Fletcher and Shaw turned in compelling performances. Fletcher, though seated, seemed in constant motion, never quite comfortable, and her facial expressions in reaction to some of Andy's more stuffy and self congratulatory letters were right on target. Shaw's rich voice and strong presence brought Andy alive as a steady, conservative man who took his responsibilities to his family, his country and himself very seriously.
The play is designed as a reading. Gardner in her reading room and Ladd in his study, reread the letters each has saved over many years and in the process discover that each other's "voices" are the truly authentic influences in each of their lives.
Gardner and Ladd grew up together in the same town, which they come to refer to as "the land of Oz." In many ways, they are opposites.
Gardner is flighty, impulsive and rebellious, while Ladd is more restrained and conservative, even stuffy at times. She hates to write letters and he enjoys writing.
Very close as children, the two are sent off to single sex boarding schools and from then on their physical encounters are few and mostly unsatisfying to them both. Eventually, Gardner pursues a career as an artist, while Ladd joins the Navy and goes on to become first a lawyer and then a politician. Their letters trace this progress and, though each goes through periods of anger at the other and doesn't answer letters, the correspondence never completely breaks off until Gardner's death.
Stable Ladd is Gardner's "anchor" as she goes through unsuccessful marriages and drinking problems. Sharp-tongued Gardner always brings Laddup short when he becomes too smug and self important. There are moments when it appears the two will connect romantically and ultimately they do in a brief, tempestuous affair. Ladd, however, chooses his wife, family and position as a senator, a decision Gardner never fully accepts.
The end of the play is particularly moving as Ladd writes Gardner's mother after her suicide and confesses that he has loved her from the moment he met her and that she has been the most meaningful influence in his life.
Alex Newberry's lighting showed subtly the passage of time in the play and the projection on the cyclorama worked beautifully in integrating the set designed by Fletcher and Ingram. The play was produced by RPP Managing/Artistic director Michele Strauss. The official photographer for RPP is Dan Headington.
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