Well-managed complexity: ‘In Praise of Love’ 

In Praise of Love by Terence Rattigan was a play well-chosen in today’s political context – it uses the unhappy relationships between Estonian immigrant Lydia (Nicole Palka), English former intelligence officer Sebastian (Sam Gosmore) and their son Joey (Ali Khan) to comment on wartime trauma, the gap between actions and political ideals, and the isolation that comes with living as a foreigner in a new setting. 

The central tension of In Praise of Love is Lydia’s terminal illness, and her and her husband’s shared knowledge that she has mere months to live, which they each aim to conceal for the other’s benefit. Easy-going American novelist Mark (Grace Yu), a long term romantic devotee of Lydia’s, is introduced as the peaceful voice of reason, offering comfort to both members of the couple. This adaptation chose to lean into the awkwardness of Mark’s romantic attachment to Lydia, with Sebastian displaying a sense of forced obliviousness each time he walked in on them blatantly embracing. Yu’s unflappable, unwaveringly kind tone was a well-executed counterweight to the chaotic emotions of the other characters. 

The actors were talented at balancing comedy and emotional depth. The standout performance came from Nicole Palka as Lydia: her portrayal made it clear to the audience that while Lydia carried trauma from her experiences during the Russian and later Nazi occupation of Estonia, she was by no means weak. Her lines were articulated in a focused way that meant the audience never missed a word, and passages that dealt with her inability to adjust to English culture came across as authentic rather than stereotypical. 

Both Palka as Lydia, and Gosmore as Sebastian, ably tackled their characters’ long narrative monologues, which may have become tedious had it not been for their constant changes in tone and pace. Gosmore’s talents shone through particularly in the second half of the play, in a scene between him and Yu in which he shed his English pomposity, and admitted it was only with the knowledge that Lydia had months to live that he had come to really care for her. 

Another important theme of In Praise of Love is the difficulty of being honest about one’s emotions. The actors’ performances were strongest in the brief moments where the script depicted the characters opening up: particularly memorable was a section where Sebastian relates his understanding of the pain Lydia endured in a wartime labour camp, including a chilling tale of when she played dead amongst the bodies of her friends to ensure her escape. It was a well-performed tonal shift from Sebastian’s otherwise comedic presence onstage, and demonstrated Gosmore’s versatility as a performer.

A key contribution to the relative strength of the second half was Khan’s portrayal of Joey, bringing a clarity of thought to his parents’ emotions. Moments where Khan impersonated his father, angry at the superficiality of his Sebastian’s Marxist principles, were well committed to.

Other moments lacked polish, but this can be attributed to opening night nerves. Joey’s first entrance onto stage could have had more impact, as the audience experienced it as a random disembodied voice in a moment of silence. Leaving a moment or two for the audience to register the actors’ reactions to Joey would have aided this. Likewise, Sam Gosmore’s portrayal of Sebastian as blustering and pompous was generally effective, but there were points of dialogue when his words were hard to make out amongst this characteristic huffing and puffing. I also felt that the couple of passages enacted around the chess set suffered from a loss in momentum, but this can be blamed on the demands of having this tedious prop in the original script.

It was clear that the set was carefully thought out by the production team. It was effective at creating the impression of a middle-aged couple’s home, and the overflowing bookcases were a not-so-subtle nod to Sebastian’s self-centred intellectual pursuits and failed attempts to continue as a successful novelist. The set also carried some comedic flair: the “contraption” that Mark shows Lydia how to use, so that she can access the medical records that Sebastain has kept from her, was in fact a simple step ladder, and this was used well to provoke laughs from the audience.

Despite some less impactful moments, the actors managed the complexities of the script well. Joey’s monologue critiquing his father’s adherence to Marxism in word rather than deed felt relevant today, relating to debates around the right of those with privilege to act as “armchair revolutionaries”. Having not been aware of the play beforehand, In Praise of Love at the BT was a rewarding evening’s entertainment.