If the concept of “mutually destructive co-dependency” hadn’t existed in 1983 when Sam Shepard first produced “Fool for Love,” it would have been invented to describe the strange, surreal relationship he presents in that play. A tribute to the ruined abyss of the American West, “Fool for Love” examines the tumultuous, angry relationship between a broken-down cowboy and his onetime girlfriend.
“Fool for Love” takes place on the outskirts of the Mojave Desert, in a seedy motel room where a woman named Mae lives. Her ex-boyfriend, Eddie, has driven 2,480 miles to patch up their 15-year on-again/off-again relationship, but all Mae remembers is that he left her, and she wants nothing more to do with him. Or does she? Their passionate embrace suggests she does.
The Keegan Theatre is doing an absorbing production of Shepard’s take on this bleak psychological and emotional landscape. Directed by Colin Smith, Keegan’s “Fool for Love” wrings every drop of bitterness out of the script, while also respecting Shepard’s wry, unconventional humor.
Eddie is a tense, competitive spirit, tightly wound, volatile, explosive and controlling. In the Keegan production, Mark A. Rhea brings out all those elements as well as Eddie’s capacity for sexual passion. He’s just not able to commit to anything more permanent.
Larissa Gallagher plays Mae, a tough woman, as competitive as Eddie but with a vulnerable side. It’s essential to the play that Mae seems trapped, wanting the man but not his continual desertions and unfaithfulness. Gallagher plays Mae as a woman emotionally roped and tied.
In the Keegan production, there is plenty of spark and sizzle between Eddie and Mae, making their utterly destructive relationship credible.
There are two more characters in “Fool for Love.” Sitting onstage, listening to Mae and Eddie bicker about their ill-fated past while he sips his Wild Turkey, is the Old Man (Kevin Adams). He is Eddie’s father and also had a liaison with Mae’s mother, making Eddie and Mae half-siblings.
Although the Old Man talks and communicates with Mae and Eddie, as if in their dreams, he exists in a separate world and can’t affect the action. His presence is particularly important because the moment his alcoholic presence and the record of his disappearing acts throughout Eddie’s childhood are described, Eddie’s own alcohol-driven, transient life makes sense.
The presence of the Old Man also throws into relief Mae’s need for permanence. As she recalls her own mother going from town to town, house to house, looking for the Old Man, Mae’s desire for stability becomes more understandable. Adams is well-cast as the Old Man.
There is a fourth character, named Martin, a simple mechanic who wants to take Mae to the movies. Martin is an innocent, who shares none of the cruelty and drive of Mae and Eddie, and can have no understanding of their connection. K.J. Thorarinsson is affecting as Martin.
“Fool for Love” takes place in a sleazy single room, designed by George Lucas. With its filthy two-tone walls, unmade bed, electrical socket falling out of the wall, and dirty venetian blinds covering the single window, it is the perfect setting for the boozy fight of “Fool for Love.” Dan Martin’s lighting design casts the whole scene in harsh, unforgiving light.
With its depiction of the death of a way of life — to keep up his rodeo skills, Eddie practices roping a chair — and of the death of a relationship, this “Fool for Love” is proof of why for decades Shepard has remained one of America’s most vivid, singular voices.
