L.O.V.E. @ Assembly Roxy

S.E.X. - not L.O.V.E.  - should be the title of this frenzied revival of a piece which was a physical theatre landmark in 1993, originally choreographed and directed for Volcano by the late Dave Charnock (also founder of DV8 company).

This is Shakespeare in the raw. Subtle is not a word that could be used to describe it. The use of the sonnets, the characters of the Dark Lady, the lovely boy, and one other male, (Shakespeare himself) is more of an excuse for a raunchy and tortuous bi-sexual threesome and explicit sexual content.

Mairi Phillips, Tibu Fortes and 'lovely boy' Joseph Reay-Reid are amazingly energetic and agile, swinging upside-down from the iron bars of a four-poster bed, flinging each other across the stage. The physical side of this show is visceral and quite awesome, extremely sweaty and no doubt exhausting for the performers. The juxtaposition of some of the sonnets with the action is at times forced, but the enactment of lust - described by the bard himself (sonnet 129) as "an expense of spirit in a waste of shame" - is superb.

Some of the acting  is unconvincing but there are strong renditions of the more bitter and sombre sonnets. Certainly, this show will appeal to anyone interested in the history of theatre or who has experienced the torture of sexual jealousy. Don't sit in the first few rows if you don't want rather too intimate audience participation.