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Fool for Love

From the beginning of his writing career, Sam Shepard's work reveals he is more interested in consciousness than in reality. His plays are landscapes of emotions that contain states of mind inside the self. More than typical dramatic action or the typical character and story arc of a traditional play, Fool for Love resembles the surreal and often absurd and contradictory realm of dreams or the subconscious; the characters have no tragic flaw or fateful quest. They sort through the emotional tumult of their lives in a power struggle where identity is vague, time is cyclical, and the past haunts the present. As in a dream, memories are often idealized and altered to suit the needs of the dreamer.

Shepard wrote Fool for Love shortly after breaking up with his wife O-Lan to be with Jessica Lange. In a letter to his friend and virtuoso collaborator, Joe Chaikin, Shepard described his play, as "the outcome of all this tumultuous feeling I've been going through this past year...it's a very emotional play and in some ways embarrassing for me to witness but somehow necessary at the same time." Few writers manage to elevate higher than the sensationalism of confessional drama, but Shepard's allegory for his own loss and love rises above and provides us with an intensely powerful personal drama that draws us in with its manic depiction of ill-fated love.

In a small motel room in the heart of America, a man and woman face off in a battle over their past, present and future. In this war of mind, body and soul, these two combatants prepare for one final stand, where they will stop at nothing to get what they want. No punches are pulled, no subject is taboo and no stone is left unturned in this fast paced drama by Sam Shepard.