Written by Alex Keelan
Directed by Hannah Ellis Ryan
The Edge Theatre
There’s nothing like quite like the discomfort of a couples dinner party when it unexpectedly exposes seismic cracks in a relationship. In this dark and sharply observed play, three couples gather and then play a competitive game of Mr and Mrs. This dinner party is peppered with a blend of effusive compliments and bitchy asides, washed down with ever generous pours of wine and spirits and as a few festering secrets emerge, the evening ends with all concerned requiring more than a few glugs of Gaviscon and some paracetamol.
Alex Keelan’s award winning The Loves of Others is being revived by HER Productions. This comic observation of modern relationships and social pretensions dissects the gap between the lives we perform and the ones we actually live behind closed doors. When three couples test how well they know their partners, innocent entertainment becomes emotional exposure. Some questions, it seems, are better left unanswered. There are obvious echoes of
Mike Leigh’s Abigail’s Party in this portrait of domestic dysfunction, where social awkwardness and resentment bubble beneath respectability. Keelan has a natural gift for dialogue and gives the material its own identity, probing contemporary coupledom and the desperate need to maintain appearances as foundations crumble.
The play’s strength lies in its understanding that relationships rarely collapse in one spectacular moment. More often, they erode through small betrayals: the cutting remark disguised as banter, the truth brushed aside, the familiar argument repeated until it barely registers. A harmless question can land like a hand grenade, while laughter provides cover for raw hurt.
Keelan has an eye for human absurdity, showing how love becomes tangled with insecurity, jealousy, control and fear of being alone. Her characters are flawed, frustrating and often uncomfortable company, but their recognisable weaknesses give the comedy its bite. We laugh at Leanne’s pretensions while wondering whether we might recognise ourselves in the wreckage and her underlying desperate vulnerability. Alexandra Maxwell reprises her role as Leanne from its 2017 run at 53TWO. This is inspired casting as Maxwell embraces the character, but seeing her in the role again nearly 10 years on is also a potent reminder of how relationship issues can ebb and flow and how we can choose to leave at any age.
Maxwell and her fellow actresses Brianna Douglass as Vic and Paula Lane as Tina as the three women dominate this production just as in the original production but in this updated production Keelan makes the men more rounded and nuanced. Here the interactions between the couples especially when in their private moments become more interesting and dynamic. The small acts of intimacy or tenderness are poignant and the bitter rejections land with a sharp jab, akin to when Leanne’s shoe hits a drunken Max.
Director, Hannah Ellis Ryan leans into how the material offers fertile ground for examining power, gender and the compromises people make to preserve relationships that no longer serve them. The challenge to balance comic exchanges with darker emotional currents is deftly handled. Here the humour and discomfort work well together, ensuring the audience does more than just enjoy other people’s romantic disasters.
The central question is both compelling and uncomfortable: how well can we know another person when we are invested in the version we have created? Ultimately, The Loves of Others reminds us that the most revealing drama often happens behind closed doors, where performing happiness can become more exhausting than telling the truth.
