Love, Question Mark - Reviews
Below are a selection of reviews of the play.
Spoonfed
Review by Naima Khan
Michael probably sailed through ‘middle age’ with his wife. But she's long gone and ‘elderly’ is fast approaching, so he orders a surprise package for himself to ahem, enjoy. The package, however, poses more of a challenge than Michael expects. It’s through his protagonist’s seemingly specific issues that writer Robert Gillespie has cleverly penned a contemplative piece that throws up resounding, trans-generational issues about relationships and loneliness.
The sheer variety of perspectives on what we call ‘love’ and the energetic but exasperated way in which they are philosophised and reasoned pulls the audience into an unsettling, unapologetic investigation into all our characters, our most basic needs and our most extraordinary fantasies. At times the action strays into unnecessary and confusing territory, encompassing more breadth than depth of argument.
Wave goodbye to the fourth wall as you enter and be ready to be addressed by a man you can’t quite make sense of. Michael is endearing but he’s come to terms with the power his sexual desires have over him and, in doing so, has become desperate, unashamed and a little too matter-of-fact. Played to perturb and charm his audience by Stuart Sessions, Michael is the voice for Gillespie’s gripes with the hypocrisy of public perception and definitions of ‘happiness’ and the willing self-delusion that fuels it all. Gillespie has written at length about his personal motivation here.
Michael grapples with the science of an erection and the Biblical guilt of it all. The constant aspiring to blissful monogamy is his main gripe. At times, the spewing of his back and forth could almost be part of a stand-up routine. He looks to the animal word for sense, and is allured by the practicality of sex for sale: a realm where man's needs and man’s lies are acknowledged and accepted.
Love, Question Mark is a brilliant piece with which to open the New Diorama Theatre. Robert Gillespie's writing is both sharp and ponderous and certainly stays with you. The show also features a stand-out performance by Clare Cameron whose depiction of a woman sold into the sex trade is edifying and perplexing in equal measure. And she has a voice like a lark to boot.
British Theatre Guide
Review by Corinne Salisbury
Michael seems like a nice, respectable enough middle-aged man. Buttoned up neatly in cardigan and tie, he comes across like an easy-going headteacher or a benign maths lecturer. And he is lecturing us, in a way - on a particular collection of formulae: those which equal love, or our ideas of love. He has become, as he airily puts it, a student of this subject. But as well as taking us through a huge range of example's of society's various attitudes to this most mercurial subject, he's also re-playing for us his own personal adventure or, perhaps you might say, experiment in the field.
After the death of his wife, Michael grieved, then started to get on with his life, and started to wonder what it was he'd had. How had the relationship changed his life, his personality? Was it love he'd known, and if it was, what was that? So, eventually he buys a prostitute from a developing country, to come and live with him and give him sex on demand. Excuse me? you might well say. But this is not a drama about sex trafficking; Gillespie is not nearly as interested in the socio-political implications of the situation as he is in the comic human drama that plays out between the two of them once she is installed. And I think this is valid; though there are echoes of the suspect Pretty Woman story in which a prostitute adapts absurdly easily, and with no hint of complicated emotions, to being set up in luxury by a rich benefactor who will eventually become her love interest. Maria is a fiery Argentinian woman of the night (in the way of these things, how could she not be fiery?) - and as Michael lectures us, he draws her in to sharing her own earthy philosophy with us too.
The main premise of the show is that we have been duped - into believing in monogamy and in the possibility of love being a sort of heaven on earth. Michael takes us through representations of love throughout history, pouring scorn on the language of high-flown Victorian romance, exploring what other cultures have considered an alternative "normal". There are some choice pieces quoted, such as Darwin's manic scribbled notes on the pros and cons of marriage - loss of freedom, loss of time to work, versus "a nice soft wife on a sofa with good fire, & books & music perhaps".
Maria meanwhile candidly recounts stories of her clients, including some shocking things done to her and her fellow prostitutes. The point is not to persuade us to hate men, but, she argues, to recognise that it is not only a particular breed of man that makes use of her profession. Her clients were all different, she insists; there is no generalising to be done: she simply "had something that men wanted". If simply any and all men suffer that temptation, what does that mean for our belief in monogamous love?
The show just avoids actually leaping to that conclusion, by keeping the debate fresh and lively, and simply presenting possibilities, in frank and funny fashion. At the same time as the lecture continues, we watch Michael and Maria's relationship develop: the safer she starts to feel, the naughtier she becomes, until they are engaged in a cycle of sadomasochistic game-playing. But he still won't let her leave the house, and she points out how much it resembles conventional relationships: she desires freedom from his suffocating mistrust, he worries that that very desire will lead her to walk out and never come back. Michael has developed a sort of zoological view of humans, equating them with all the animals who mate freely with whoever happens to be about - there being, he points out, only three species in the world who stick to one partner for life. But - in a highly dysfunctional way - they are starting to like each other, and he can't necessarily maintain his cynicism forever.
The episodic nature of the show works well: it's fast-paced and very funny, with any number of unusual developments (mostly to do with their sexual games) suddenly thrown our way. The downside is that the attempt to keep the philosophical side of the show moving leads to some clumsy devices, such as a piece of information literally floating down from the ceiling to inform Michael's argument, like an email from God, a celestial telegram - it feels highly incongruous. Each development in the story is a mere device to keep the argument moving on.
Of course the piece is highly stylised, so it's inevitable that moments often feel contrived; the problem is that once we have started to believe in Maria as a character and to care about her story, we start to pine for a bit more realism. At the end, when a sort of happy ending restores Maria with her loved ones and forces a sort of conventionality on Michael, it's used simply as a means for his arguments to be defeated, and to allow a comedy sequence where he mock-attempts to kill himself with kitchen utensils in protest.
The metatheatrical lecture element of the show does lead to many interesting moments; one in particular, where you get the impression that the two of them are on the road together with this their show about love. It's not quite explored enough though: are they merely actors. Is this their own story they're telling? If it is, where is their relationship at now? But overall it's a sharp and witty show, deftly directed by Gillespie who keeps the pace up and keeps our interest admirably, and wonderfully performed by Stuart Sessions and Clare Cameron. It challenges us to be curious about our ideas of love, and to look for our own truth.
The Public Reviews
Review By Carol Evans
Did you know that Bewick swans mate for life and we – especially if we live in the West – are just like those swans, always on the lookout for Mr or Ms Right?
Retired estate agent Michael Smith in Robert Gillespie’s Love, Question Mark is a typical swan but one with a startling primeval urge to break away. He’d rather be a free-spirited chimpanzee who has countless lady chimps queuing up for him. At least, that’s what he admits, almost shamefacedly, to us all in the audience.
Widowed after 38 years of marriage, set in his ways, a pretty boring man by all accounts, Michael (played with great nervous energy and enthusiasm by Stuart Sessions) found his dormant sexual desires were quite literally aroused by a pair of shapely female legs descending the stairs of a bus. On impulse, he goes against type, buys a prostitute he’s never met from Argentina to come and live with him… but finds the new way of life is not quite what he was expecting – or, indeed, wanting...
Gillespie’s new play challenges us to think outside the box, pointing us in the direction of the words of American satirist and critic H L Mencken that "it is the nature of the human species to reject what is true but unpleasant and to embrace what is obviously false but comforting."
When Clare Cameron’s sultry, smouldering Maria turns up at his home, Michael thinks he’s on a winner: wall-to-wall sex in every which way, shape or form – but on his terms. She, abused all her life but oozing sex, comes with her own agenda which doesn’t quite conform to Michael’s expectations.
Together this odd couple play out a series of clever scenarios which depict how they have been let down by life. The writing which teeters into black comedy is witty, acerbic with lots of brilliant one liners, many with a wealth of meaning behind them: As Maria, on prostitution (and, no doubt, Michael’s purchase of her) utters: "Men don’t pay you for sex, they pay for you to leave afterwards."
If nothing else, this play will leave you, maybe at first bewildered, but afterwards will get you thinking. Do we really want to live out our fantasies or should we accept the more humdrum but safer existence?
This is the first play to be performed at the New Diorama Theatre, a brand new acting space in Regents Place, one of London’s newest squares, all glass and high rise, just behind Euston Road. As yet, with no actual signage in place, finding the theatre is a bit like going on a treasure hunt. But once found, this could become a gem in London’s energetic fringe scene.
A Younger Theatre
Review by Jake Orr
What is love? Can it be defined in a single sentence? According to my trusted mac dictionary love is “an intense feeling of deep affection” it goes on further to suggest that love is also “a deep romantic or sexual attachment to someone”, in the case of Love, Question Mark, it would appear it is more of the sexual attachment than that of deep romance.
The New Diarama Theatre has opened it’s doors with their first public show during their ‘construction season’, with what is planned to be a trilogy of plays around Love, Hate and War written and directed by Robert Gillespie. As a budding new theatre with a blank canvas and no history, the New Diarama has certainly made it clear that beyond the newly laid floors and work surfaces, there is a new theatre in town and they mean business.
Love, Question Mark is a difficult piece. I would be lying to say if I understood everything, if all the motives of Gillespie’s writing and direction came across coherently. What I did take from it, is a notion of challenging conventions. Love is clearly not a one dimensional word, with connotations stretching in all directions. In Gillespie’s direction, we are flung between conventions so suddenly that the piece slips between serious drama, farce, and a cabaret in a blink of an eye, equally the script reflects these changing dynamics.
For anyone who is unable to hold on for the whirlwind ride of the script, there is thankfully an outstanding performance from Clare Cameron as Maria – the saucy yet oddly down to earth woman who Michael (Stuart Sessions) has brought over to be his new lover. She commands the stage in every shape possible and tackles the script with such vigor that she borders on tearing it apart. Maybe that is what is needed from Gillespie’s script, a sense of leaping from the words into a distorted form of acting, for it to work.
Sessions as the rather drab but sexually fueled Michael plays his part admirably but there is a sense of over acting to this role, which is possibly explained in the programme notes as this is Session returning ‘to acting following twenty years in the army’. Whatever the case, Cameron commands the night in Love, Question Mark and justly so.
Gillespie has managed to contain the staging elements in a very simple set consisting of a single screen and two chairs (designed by Mamor Iriguchi and Maria Garcla), leaving the focus to fall on the script. Whilst we are thrown from situation to even complicated situation eg. Maria brought up in poverty, to getting raped, to falling into prostitution leaves a little to be desired, Gillespie’s Love, Question Mark is an enjoyable piece.
He has created such absurd characters that at times the piece falls into somewhat of a farce, leaving the audience room for laughter and joy to be taken from the ever changing script. This is played out against the somewhat ‘hard hitting’ text delivered by Cameron on the experiences she had being a prostitute. Love, Question Mark does not allow you to sit back and relax into the story, with the direct address to the audience you have to be present in the space, whether this is for the best or not is unknown – it is clear that at times the strongest moments come from the interaction between Maria and Michael, not to the audience.
There are unquestionable faults with the script, but for a production to challenge the notion of convention and what love is, it does leave you thinking. Compared with the all singing, all dancing productions doing the rounds in the West End, a night of theatre of thought is greatly appreciated, and even if the script needs taming, it does make for an enjoyable experience in a theatre that holds much promise for the future.
Remote Goat
Review by Bob Fuller
I went along to the preview of the first of 3 linked plays by Robert Gillespie, (the old star of 'Keep it in the family') and was delighted. The brand new venue is fantastic and a perfect showcase for a show that will be a massive hit.
Stuart Sessions plays the old, sexually desperate man we all dread becoming, and with great skill he drags you in until you can no longer deny it.
Clare Cameron punches perfectly onto his insular world as an Argentinian mail order bride/prostitute. Sexy, funny, endearing and absolutely terrifying.
The play-off of sex, power and possibly love is wonderfully directed and explosively played out; questioning everything you think you know about relationships. 24 hours later it will still be playing through your head. Thank you to everyone involved.
Islington Tribune
Review by Adam Cohen
You might expect Love, Question Mark, the sparky first production at the recently built New Diorama Theatre, to be about love. Actually it is an investigation into human sexuality and monogamy situated in unfamiliar surroundings, at least for most of us.
Michael Smith (Stuart Sessions), a retired estate agent and recent widower, purchases Maria (Clare Cameron), a mail order ex-prostitute from Argentina, to fulfil his sexual needs. Maria fulfils this role like a professional, until, that is, Michael stops taking her out, even refusing to let her go to Tesco.
The result is comical and at times dark. Are monogamy, intimacy and partnership, as Michael imagines, really second-best to a life of experimentation and animal sexuality?
But not all animals are unfaithful. Some, like the swan “are incapable of infidelity”, and if Maria simply wants to be a swan after all her let-downs with men, why is Michael so fearful of her leaving the house?
While the play ends somewhat abruptly, the script is thought provoking and amusing. Most importantly, the strange relationship between Michael and Maria works and draws in the audience. The New Diorama is a theatre to watch.
Curtain Up
Review by Lizzie Loveridge
There is a brand new 80 seat theatre in London's Euston/Kings Cross area which will give London another fringe venue for incoming productions. The New Diorama Theatre on the ground floor of a new leisure and restaurant block, replaces a previous Diorama which got in the way of property development. The first show from Nightwork Productions is an analysis of love and sex. Written and directed by Robert Gillespie, Love, Question Mark is a lively two hander on one man's search for companionship and sex after the death of his wife.
Widower Michael Smith (Stuart Sessions) has ventured forth into the dating world. Unusually rejecting the single middle aged women of the Home Counties, he has recruited from the slums of Argentina, Maria (Clare Cameron), a fiery young girl with a colourful past. In between the story of this unlikely couple are digressions on the history and philosophy of love and sex, much of it didactic and delivered by Stuart Sessions as if it were an information session, but interesting for all that and providing a necessary break from the heat of the relationship.
Michael Smith explains the whys and wherefores of his decision to become sexually active and the mechanism of finding Maria, a dark skinned beauty who frowning, looks angry or it might be puzzled as she struggles to grasp the meaning of Michael's words. The most interesting aspect of this production is the description of Maria's harrowing life — one of many children, raped as a child and then sold to a man as a sex slave. She lives later as a prostitute.
Stuart Sessions in his beige sweater looks not unlike the young Richard Briers and has the same kind of diffident and apologetic manner. Clare Cameron seethes and sizzles as the tempestuous Maria. As they discuss their experience of sex and erotic literature there are interludes of violent sub dom games with Maria in charge.
We watch the marital drama unfold as Maria tries to break free from Michael and he is nervous of allowing this independent spirit out on her own. There is a resolution which is unexpected and I shall not reveal.
Mamoru Iriguchi and Maria Garcia's simple design is a screen with black with red flowers and a couple of chairs. Later Maria wears a frock in the same strong red and black print. The audience are raked above the playing area.
The new theatre is a welcome addition to London's theatre scene. Though it has already recruited the well established Quicksilver Theatre company who have been making theatre for children for thirty years, it will take time to reach its audience.
Whats On Stage Reader Reviews
I didn't quite know what to expect from this evening's production - I remembered Robert Gillespie from his acting roles in the seventies and eighties, but didn't realise quite how dark a comedy I was about to witness. Don't let this put you off though, it's an absolutely fascinating piece, and I loved it. A very original mix of humour and tragedy, it sees a retired Estate Agent buy himself a mail order bride / prostitute - and whilst at first he's happy with the arrangement, things soon change. Stuart Sessions was absolutely electrifying in the lead role as the poor tormented Michael, whilst Clare Cameron is sexually charged yet also quite terrifying in places, in a role which demands much from the actress - but she delivers in spades. I never rate anything 5/5 as I've yet to see the perfect play, but this is a superb piece of theatre, and one which I'd recommend to all. - Steven Jones.
I went with my husband on the opening of Love, Question Mark. We were both blown away by the performances, which were at the same tine exhilarating and mentally draining; a real treat to think as well as be entertained. Clare Cameron was riveting as Maria, the Argentinian prostitute. A fantastic piece of theatre - I was very impressed, disturbed, challenged and highly amused, thank you!!! - Juliette Harkin.
A challenge to Western ideals regarding love. Captivating, intense performances keep you engaged with a series of interesting ideas about the assumptions underpinning your aims in life. - Emily Evans.