Preview: Love All

Elegant, charming, sophisticated – Dorothy L. Slayers’ Love All is being put on, to our delight, for the first time in 80 years. This self-declared ‘anti-romantic comedy’ is a perfect blend of 1930s drawing room comedy – in the genealogy of Oscar Wilde – and a nuanced exploration of pertinent themes of motherhood, sacrifice, and the expectations of women. The Corpus Playroom seems the perfect stage. Intimate, urban, night-lit, it will certainly enhance the atmosphere of Love All.

The whole cast looking monochromatically dapper and stylish. Image credits: Maria Woodford

This is a play which can offer a dexterous balance between a “scope for comedy, as well as some more weighty, serious moments,” as stated by director Frances Myatt. Just as this serio-comic balance is poised, so too must the women of this play balance motherhood and careers, their creativity, and their husbands. As assistant director Isabella Ren confesses, “I love the dynamics between the two main female characters — it isn’t something you’d expect from a duo with many ‘conflicting interests’. The portrayal of women in this play can be summarised in the words of another great feminist writer— ‘Women, they have minds, and they have souls, as well as just hearts!'”

Miss Birch (Nancy Lake) – capable, composed and a devoted secretary to Godfrey, its Miss Birch’s business to be in the know: “Do you know, I think secretaries are very dangerous people.” Image credits: Maria Woodford

A sneak-peak into some of the lines illuminates how these themes are explored both with insight and wicked wit by Slayers:

“Every great man has had a woman behind him.”
“And every great woman has had some man or other in front of her, tripping her up.”

Love All will flit from Venice to London, one of the best aspects of the show in Myatt’s eyes: “I love Act II, when the action switches from Venice to London, and we meet several characters from the London theatre scene […]Sayers was enchanted by the world of theatre, and in writing Act II she evidently had a great time lovingly poking fun at the excesses and mannerisms of London thespians.”

Selby (Jago Wainwright) – a darling of the London theatre scene, Selby is self-assured and charming: however, at times he’s not the brightest bulb in the lighting box… Image credits: Maria Woodford

What is a better romantic, date-night idea for Valentine’s Day than going to see an anti-romantic comedy? Love All appears to be an unmissable, rediscovered gem. We have the luxury of it being rediscovered and restaged here in Cambridge, in the Corpus Playroom, starting next Tuesday.

Love All: An Anti-Romantic Comedy is running from Tuesday the 8^th February to Saturday 12^th at the Corpus Playroom. You can get your tickets here. 

Feature image credits: Maria Woodford