Eternal Love at the Wolverhampton Grand Review
Eternal Love
Wolverhampton Grand
25 February to 1 March 2014
Reviewed by Heather Steadman
What a fascinating piece of theatre Eternal Love: The Story of Abelard & Heloise is. Thought provoking, expertly crafted and intellectually challenging. I loved it. Both my husband and grown up children who accompanied me found it really interesting.
We love The Grand, it’s a lovely little theatre, so I was very pleased to see that the English Touring Theatre teamed with Shakespeare’s Globe were bringing their Eternal Love tour to Wolverhampton. I find it very sad that it hasn’t managed to attract the same amount of ticket sales that the constant stream of musicals and pantomime normally do. In the heart of Wolverhampton, a few metres away from the railway and bus stations with ample car parking close by, the theatre is easily accessible and a real gem.
After a relaxing drink in one of the two bars we took our seats to the beautiful sound of stringed medieval instruments. A musicians’ gallery formed part of the stage set and was visible between two trees raised above the action. The music was written especially for and integral to the play. The sight and sound of the instruments helped to set the scene of 12th Century France and the play opens with a song from this period in the language of Occitan.
With intelligent argument and witty humour Howard Brenton’s script not only tells us the story of Abelard and Heloise’s relationship it is also about the war of ideas and their conflict with Bernard of Clairvaux a powerful Cistercian abbot. The language of the play is easy to understand but the ideas are complex and I found I had to concentrate hard in order to follow the philosophical debate between the main protagonists.
I thought all the acting performances were very strong. David Sturzaker is excellent as Peter Abelard an intellectual who questions the authority of the teachers in the church. I believed in his portrayal of a passionate seeker of the truth, a man who believes that God gave us reason and thought so that we could come to know him fully. A man who believes “we should find God in all our senses” and sets out to do so in a physical sexual relationship with his student Heloise.
Sam Crane is brilliant as the fanatical Bernard a mystic who believes in Divine revelation and that faith is a direct gift from God. He denies the self, doesn’t eat properly or appear to wash and attacks Abelard’s quest for knowledge because he believes it will put man at the centre of creation not God. He is an unsettling figure, vomiting on stage through lack of nutrition and smelly through lack of personal care.
It is not easy to like any of the characters as they present different aspects of love and human nature to us. Heloise, played wonderfully by Jo Herbert embodies youth, passion and a hunger for knowledge but despite her assertion that “true love is for the sake of the other person and does not seek any reward”, she abandons her child to the care of her sister in law. I found this contrast between the words the characters utter and their actions fascinating. The bishop Fulbert, for example, a man of God has no qualms about ordering a vengeful and brutal castration on his former friend.
It is in the character of Abelard’s sister Denise that I found the most humanity and selfless love. She is a surrogate mother to Heloise’s child Astrolabe and also responsible for nursing her parent. Although this is a much smaller role I felt that Rhiannon Oliver the actress playing Denise really stood out. She brought the compassion and tenderness of this character to life.
The themes in this play are very relevant. It is not only the struggle that was at the heart of the Enlightenment years later it is a struggle that is just as pertinent today with religious fanatics on the one hand and people fighting for individual freedoms and personal liberty on the other.
I will definitely go and see any future work involving Howard Brenton, the director John Dove or this theatre group.
Rating: 5/5 
Tickets cost from £10.50 to £24.50 (plus £3 transaction fee).
For more information or to book tickets click here or call the box office on 01902 429212.
