I went into "Love" braced for an emotional rollercoaster (it’s no rom-com, trust me), but despite expecting pure gloom from the synopsis, I found myself utterly riveted, drawn in by the raw humanity onstage and still thinking about it almost 2 weeks later.
Salad Days Collective presented a powerful interpretation of Patricia Cornelius's 'Love', delving deep into the harsh realities and struggles faced by three young individuals navigating love and survival on the outskirts of society. Directed by Ava Rusch, this gritty narrative was vividly staged at South Brisbane’s VENTspace.
The storyline of 'Love' follows the turbulent lives of Tanya, Annie, and Lorenzo, three young people bound by a fierce desire for connection in a world that has otherwise failed them. Living in gloomy backstreets and rundown squats, Tanya and Annie share a co-dependent yet deeply caring relationship where love, business, and survival are entangled. When Tanya briefly lands in jail, Annie finds companionship in the enigmatic Lorenzo, sparking a tense love triangle. As the bonds between them shift and strain, we see a brutally honest picture of the lengths people will go for connection, no matter how distorted or harmful it may be.
The small but formidable cast, comprising Jasmine Prasser as Tanya, Georgina Sawyer as Annie, and Leo Buzac as Lorenzo, brought Cornelius’s grim, poetic vision to life with astonishing depth. Their performances were undeniably compelling, with each actor embodying the grit, vulnerability, and desperation of their characters.
Georgina Sawyer’s portrayal of Annie was especially gripping; her haunting dissociative gaze and wild demeanour captured the erratic highs and lows of this character with devastating accuracy. Sawyer infused Annie with a tragic vulnerability, often eliciting laughs from the audience before plunging back into heart-wrenching moments of discomfort. She delivered Annie’s childlike hopes, depressive states, and turbulent drug-fuelled highs with striking realism, often looking genuinely ill and embodying the manic energy of a young woman clinging to fleeting hopes.
Jasmine Prasser as Tanya carried a palpable heaviness, her every movement and expression seeming weighed down by life’s hardships. Her depiction of Tanya’s inner struggle—a woman who loathes her own femininity—was profound. In particular, Prasser’s performance in the final scene was nothing short of gut-wrenching, showcasing the anguish of a character trapped between fierce love and intense personal conflict.
Prasser and Sawyer’s on-stage chemistry was remarkable, painting a vivid picture of a relationship both intensely affectionate and strained by dependency and unspoken pain that it felt as if we were intruding upon something intensely private. Their arrangement involved Tanya acting as Annie's pimp and occasionally resorting to theft. While there are many instances where it seems Tanya is exploiting Annie for financial gain, a poignant moment reveals Tanya's readiness to go to any lengths for Annie, even if it meant sacrificing her own self-perception.
Leo Buzac infused Lorenzo with of mixture of playfulness and darkness, introducing a volatile new addition to Annie and Tanya's messed-up world. From his swaggering entrance to his eventual downfall, Buzac depicted Lorenzo as both a catalyst for chaos and a tragic figure in his own right. Lorenzo's deteriorating physical and emotional state was obvious, characterised by a jittery and sweaty appearance that vividly embodied an addict's desperation. His unpredictable nature only heightened the play's inherent tension, particularly as his addiction worsened and his temper grew more intense.
Ava Rusch’s direction skilfully harnessed the complexities of the story, allowing moments of dark humour to breathe amidst the intensity. Sawyer and Buzac managed to elicit laughs despite the heavy themes; an impressive feat. The choice of VENTspace as a venue proved ideal; the dialogue resonated clearly, and the sounds of the actors’ explosive confrontations likely reached passersby outside. With the audience mere metres from the action, every harsh word, desperate glance, and violent encounter was intensified. The set featured a lone mattress, wooden slats, and a hollow door frame, allowing each actor’s movement to resonate fully within the space. At times, the actors moved up and down the aisles but never acknowledged the audience, creating a sense of disarray that pulled us deeper into their gritty world. Costume design and accents reinforced the characters’ dire social class, with ragged clothing and a rough, bogan inflection adding authenticity to their portrayals.
'Love' was raw and harrowing, with moments that felt so real and intense that it was easy to forget you were watching a play. In a year filled with excellent dramatic performances, 'Love' stands out as one of the most intense and brilliantly executed productions I’ve seen. Having seen Prasser and Sawyer in lighter roles in 'Scenes with Girls', it was a pleasure to witness them tackle something so challenging and raw, with both actors delivering standout performances that left a lasting impression on me.
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