Caryl Churchill’s wild family debacle, Hearts Desire is given a make-over at the Coronet Theatre by acclaimed Italian theatre maker Lisa Ferlazzo Natoli who directs the company lacasadargilla. Presented in an Italian translation by Laura Caretti and Margaret Rose as L’Amore Del Cuore with monitors either side of the stage providing the English text, it is an intense hour of physicality, humour and linguistic agility.
The deceptively calm opening belies the argumentative and aggressive nature of much that follows
A simple story is placed on rewind as the characters go so far through the script before being told to ‘reset’ and start all over again. For those who like to know what’s coming next, the answer is, “You’ve just heard it”. Yet each reiteration brings with it certain changes and variations. There is a version at high speed in which the Italian language, with its predominant vowel sounds and inherent musicality, makes for humour and evokes admiration for the cast’s verbal agility. Another version has excess words removed and yet another deploys Churchill’s distinctive overlapping conversation that she pioneered in Top Girls. After several repetitions it's time to move on to the next stage of the story and adopt the same recurring format until finally the whole story is told. This structure gives a sense of people experiencing frustration as they struggle to convey their message and of wondering why it is so difficult for people to understand and accept what is being said no matter how many times theyare told.
The deceptively calm opening belies the argumentative and aggressive nature of much that follows. The set, designed by Alessandro Ferroni, is stark and dismal, with just a central wooden table around which the family gathers. Costumes by Camilla Caré , mostly in dull shades of grey, green and blue add to the foreboding air. The family is gathered to greet 35-year-old daughter Suzy on her return form Australia. It should be a straightforward celebration, yet as is often the case with families, a simple disagreement, in this case as to whether her father should pick her up from the airport, sets husband and wife against each other, suggesting that below the surface much more about their relationship lies buried. The debate is fuelled by interjections from the girl’s aunt and alcoholic brother who cannot resist having their say, before a spanner is thrown into the works with the arrival of the girl’s friend with news that renders all the preceding rhetoric futile.
Some of the more absurd and surreal interventions in Churchill’s drama are omitted here, which makes for a production that is tightly focussed on communication and interactions between members of the family. The exception is the brother, who doubles as the director and announces the stage directions from a chair at the side of the stage, detached from the main set. But the emphasis on language works well for the cast of Tessa Battaiato, Tania Garribba, Fortunato Leccese, Alice Palazzi and Francesco Villano who have performed together for fifteen years and have a palpable affinity with each other.
This production afforded the rare opportunity to see this short work performed, and perhaps the only chance to witness it in Italian, so much so that Caryl Churchill, now in her 86th year, attended the opening night. The run is for three nights only, but it’s to be hoped that other opportunities to see it present themselves.
