‘Fool for Love’ Goes for a Rough-and-Tumble Ride

Doors slam. Actors slip, slide and tumble across the stage as director Bjorn Johnson infuses a bold physicality into Sam Shepard’s “Fool for Love” at the McCadden Place Theatre. There’s a stark visual beauty in this well-acted revival by Big Red Productions, in association with the Authentic Theatre Company.

Eddie (Aaron McPherson) practices his bronco-busting moves in a rundown motel room on the edge of the Mojave Desert. He pretends the haphazardly repaired chair is a horse. May (Hillary Straney) sits dejected on the bed. Her blond hair cascades down, hiding her face but shining bright against the gray walls of Evan Bartoletti’s set design.

In the shadows sits the old man (Dennis Parlato) who links the two. He watches them as if untouched by shame or responsibility.

Under Johnson’s direction, this is not a laconic western with words as weapons. In his worn boots, mended by duct tape, Eddie periodically chases May, trying to capture her with his emotional lasso. But May is a tricky filly, dodging and bucking off his tenders of possessive love.

May and Eddie’s wild movements contrast with the stillness of May’s intended date, Martin (Steven Houska)--a man obviously unsuited to May and no match for Eddie.

Johnson, who is a fight director, choreographs the actors’ movements to make this a rough-and-tumble outing, drawing strong parallels with the rodeo-riding world Eddie inhabits--and in which May is just a necessary accessory and unwilling participant.

*

“Fool for Love,” McCadden Place Theatre, 1157 N. McCadden Place, Hollywood. Thursdays-Sundays, 8 p.m. Ends Feb. 18. $15. (323) 655-TKTS. Running time: 1 hour, 20 minutes.