Complex Emotions From ‘Love and Understanding’

Joe Penhall’s play “Love and Understanding,” at the Lillian Theatre’s Elephant Off Main venue, is about love between a couple, and also the affection between friends, particularly friends not good to or for each other.

Neal’s (Brian Morri) old friend Richie (Maury Sterling) has just broken up with his girlfriend and now deviously insinuates himself into Neal’s home and life. Neal and his live-in girlfriend, Rachel (Mandy June Turpin), are going through a rough patch in which romance is being suffocated by their careers.

Vivian Hartman deftly directs this Tightrope Productions presentation. The characters all have their faults and peculiar attractiveness. Sterling, as the hack writer who plays psychological games, brings out the kind of fatal charm necessary for a forgivable cad. Turpin’s Rachel is a woman torn between longing for Neal’s reliability and Richie’s impulsiveness. Morri projects a heartfelt earnestness as the play’s social conscience.

Penhall betrays our trust with an ending that seems cheap after all the earlier emotional complexities. But under the sure hand of Hartman, this trio gives a beautifully nuanced portrait of the difficulties of love and perhaps the impossibility of ever truly understanding the whys of that emotion.

*

“Love and Understanding,” Lillian Theatre, Elephant Off Main, 1076 Lillian Way, Hollywood. Thursdays-Saturdays, 8 p.m. $15-$18. Ends Sept. 8. (310) 799-1234. Running time: 2 hours, 10 minutes.