Ann Sonneville (Photo by Cooper Bates)
Reviewed by Madison Mellon
Odyssey Theatre
Through June 15
RECOMMENDED
In Love’s End, now playing at the Odyssey Theatre, the end of a relationship is explored through two towering monologues. Written by Pascal Rambert, the piece lays bare all of the rawness, hurt, and failure to communicate that often comes as a relationship dissolves. It is a visceral autopsy of a romantic partnership’s final moments that requires some patience and endurance from the audience but is ultimately thought-provoking and worthwhile.
The breakup takes place in a metatheatrical purgatory. The two characters, Beejan (Beejan Land) and Ann (Ann Sonneville), each address the other with a driven and relentless hour-long monologue. Set designer Stephanie Kerley Schwartz provides a deliberately stark canvas — bare flats, lighting equipment, and a ladder evoke the backstage of a theatre. In this open space with nowhere to hide, the former lovers spar with each other and attempt to make sense of their tangled thoughts and emotions.
Both actors are engaging and up to the task of delivering the play’s barrage of dialogue. Land is compelling in his stamina and emotional breadth, and he finds moments of vulnerability beneath his character’s defensive verbosity. His character could easily become pretentious and entirely unlikeable, and Land manages to mostly avoid this pitfall.
The play’s structure pays off in the second half, when Ann takes the floor and begins challenging the narrative Beejan has built. Sonneville delivers a grounded performance, tapping into the character’s hurt and frustration without becoming overwrought. The switch between the two monologues provides a kind of catharsis as she exposes the limitations of Beejan’s intellectualized grief. The balanced dynamic between the two halves is rewarding, giving the piece an arc and allowing it to maintain momentum all the way through.
Love’s End is not exactly an easy watch and it does become challenging at time to parse and absorb the volume of words being hurled. But that is very much the play’s intention: it should not be simple or easy to watch two people reckon with the aftermath of a relationship. The language is often poetic and gripping, and the direction by Maurice Attias ensures that the energy remains high until the end of the marathon. The minimalism of the set and the limited movement of the actors builds an effectively tense atmosphere.
Though the piece feels more intellectually stirring than emotionally impactful, it does leave behind a lasting impression. Love does not end with a clean break, but with words — too many, too late, and impossible to take back.
Odyssey Theatre, 2055 S. Sepulveda Blvd., West LA. Fri.-Sat., 8 pm, Sun., 2 pm; thru June 15. https://odysseytheatre.com/ Running time: one hour and 50 minutes with no intermission.
