Ian Jackson

That’s Amore? | Natascha Girgis is a butch lesbian pimp and Amber Borotsik her junkie prostitute girlfriend in Love.

LOVE
Directed by Trevor Schmidt. Written by Patricia Cornelius. Starring Amber Borotsik, Natascha Girgis, Rob van Meenen. The Third Space (11516-103 St). To May 10. Tickets available through TIX on the Square (420-1757/tixonthesquare.com).
****

“The minute I saw you, I knew you could love me and I could love you.”

It’s the constant refrain of each character in Patricia Cornelius’ drama Love, the final play in Northern Light Theatre’s 2008/2009 season. Which sounds awfully nice for all concerned.

The problem, for all concerned, is that it’s uttered first by an imprisoned junkie lesbian pimp, next by her junkie hooker girlfriend, and then by the hooker’s junkie waste-of-skin boyfriend. And the love they speak of is clouded by their extreme need: for affection in their otherwise cold world, for drugs, for money, and strangely, for each other.

It’s codependency at its finest. A psychologist would have a field day.

The play should, in fact, be required viewing for any Psych 101 student, as any number of psychological ills are played out to their fullest: the problems of addiction, codependence, cycles of prostitution, violence, abuse, and controlling relationships. All masquerading as love.

But the strangely beautiful thing about this show — underneath the need, under the loneliness and fear and the coldness of their experience — is the intensity of feeling, the sincerity of their love for each other, even if it’s at times fleeting or abusive. The feelings are genuine.

Which makes for one emotionally exhausting ride for the audience.

Gorgeously directed by NLT’s Trevor Schmidt (who also designed the set and costumes), all the performances are nuanced and beautifully textured. Amber Borotsik is fantastic as the hooker, Annie, vulnerable and desperate in her need for someone to look after her. She is nearly naked, emotionally and physically, throughout the show, and Borotsik deserves special kudos for her complete lack of self-consciousness and total commitment to every difficult moment.

Equally committed is the newly-shorn Natascha Girgis as Tanya, the tough, man-hating, man-wannabe lesbian pimp, the woman who lives off Annie’s labours, the woman who loves her more than any man ever could, or so she thinks. Girgis is particularly impressive in this role, and her defensiveness, her desire to control, are all masks for her own vulnerability. Rob van Meenen is also most interesting in his role as the junkie boyfriend Leonard as he struggles with addiction and the conflicting expressions of love and derision — for both women.

The play itself is a fascinating combination of bitter and sweet — yet one that could never be called bittersweet. The emotions are too raw for such a clichéd label. With the exception of a few heartfelt, if oddly placed monologues about stallions and dreams and freedom, the script is nearly perfect, as are the performances. Despite the ugliness of their lives, their desperation and dependence, their variations on the theme of love are the bright points in their otherwise dismal existences.

 “You are the hope,” Annie says at one point, “that there’s some other feelings than the crap feelings.” This play explores many of the crap feelings. But it’s the love that we’re left with.