‘Fool for Love’ triumphantly reteams Steppenwolf with playwright Sam Shepard
“Fool for Love” — 4 stars
In “Fool for Love,” two ex-lovers reunite one fateful night to shed plenty of bad blood. But this thrilling play by the late playwright Sam Shepard is more than just any old spat between former lovers.
“Fool for Love” taps into all kinds of mythical tropes, including the Old West and a shocking stumble into the realm of Greek tragedy. You can feel all of this in director Jeremy Herrin’s visceral take on Shepard’s 1983 drama, now being revived for the first time in four decades by Steppenwolf Theatre Company in a nod to its own mythologized origin story.
Set in a rundown rural motel (a gritty and expertly skewed vision by set designer Todd Rosenthal), “Fool for Love” establishes the push-and-pull drama of ex-lovers Eddie and May from the start. Dressed as a cowboy, Eddie (Nick Gehlfuss of “Chicago Med” and “Shameless” fame) is on a mission to win back his former lover.
But May (a rightfully petulant and emotionally wrenching Caroline Neff) keeps bringing up past relationship recriminations. May also confronts Eddie by asking him if he is currently “ballin’” a woman she calls “The Countess” (no, we’re not talking about a certain “Housewives” reality TV star).
Shepard gradually reveals that Eddie (actually a Western stuntman) and May have a history stretching back 15 years as high school sweethearts. But the strange omniscient presence of The Old Man (Tim Hopper, expertly playing gruffly against many of his past Steppenwolf roles as nervous guys) and the late arrival of May’s hulking suitor Martin (a hilariously uncomfortable Cliff Chamberlain) reveals something more unsettling in Eddie and May’s past.
With “Fool for Love,” director Herrin and fight-and-intimacy coordinator Samantha Kaufman acutely deliver on what audiences expect from a rough-and-tumble Steppenwolf production. And onstage, Gehlfuss proves to be a wiry and engaging Eddie, who is seduced by all the trappings of the Old West (great costuming by Raquel Adorno).
The rest of the cast each play into the work’s built-in laughs and moments of high-stakes bursts of horror and outrage. Lighting designer Heather Gilbert (gotta love that hovering neon motel sign) and the audible desert night atmospherics conjured by sound designer Mikhail Fiksel also elevate the uncomfortable dramatic underbelly that gets exposed in “Fool for Love.”
Die-hard theater fans know that Steppenwolf has a long and fruitful history interpreting the works of Shepard. Steppenwolf rose to national prominence in 1982 when its acclaimed take on Shepard’s “True West” lit up New York with future Hollywood stars John Malkovich and Gary Sinise. And in 1996, Steppenwolf’s Broadway transfer of Shepard’s “Buried Child” was showered with critical acclaim and multiple Tony Award nominations.
“Fool for Love” didn’t originate at Steppenwolf (Ed Harris and Kathy Baker were catapulted into stardom via the play’s world premiere at San Francisco’s Magic Theatre and its New York transfer in 1983). But Steppenwolf’s 1984 take on “Fool for Love” did star William Petersen (“CSI”) and Rondi Reed (“August: Osage County”) as the tragic lovers Eddie and May.
But time machines aren’t readily available to see “Fool for Love” back then. Now’s the time to savor the current moment of Steppenwolf confidently returning to Shepard as one of the company’s great and most important theatrical muses.
• • •
Location: Steppenwolf Theatre, 1650 N. Halsted St., Chicago, (312) 335-1650, steppenwolf.org/
Times: 7:30 p.m. Tuesday through Friday; 3 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday; 3 p.m. Sunday (no evening shows March 5 and 11; added 2 p.m. matinee March 5); extended through March 23
Running time: About 70 minutes with no intermission
Parking: Valet, area parking garages and metered street parking
Tickets: $20-$138
Rating: For mature audiences, includes profanity, violence and sexuality