Love, Love, Love

by Mike Bartlett

Love, Love, Love takes on the baby boomer generation as they retire and find their world full of trouble. It follows one couple's forty year journey from initial burst of romance to full bloom of love and through stages of smoking, drinking, affection and paranoia. The play follows their idealistic teenage years in the 1960s to their marriage and family and ultimate divorce, which dissolves their marriage but leaves them free from acrimony. Their children, however, bitterly rail against their parents' irresponsibility and their relaxed, laissez-faire attitude. This play by Olivier award-winning writer Mike Bartlett questions whether the baby boomer generation is to blame for the debt-ridden and adrift generation of their children, now adults but far from stable and settled.

Genres: Plays, Fiction, Theatre

128 pages, Paperback

First published October 7, 2010

About the author

Michael Bartlett is a British playwright. Mike Bartlett was born on 7 October 1980 in Abingdon, Oxford, England. He attended Abingdon School, then studied English and Theatre Studies at the University of Leeds. In October 2013, Mike won Best New Play at The National Theatre Awards for his play Bull, beating plays from both Alan Ayckbourn and Tom Wells.

(source)

Reviews

[Celina Aanes Larsen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sandra: I don’t like your hair
Henry: It’s always like this.
Sandra: I know.


Ah! Om jeg hadde vært regissør hadde jeg satt det opp nå!

[Doug · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of Bartlett's better efforts charting 45 years of a volatile relationship from 1967 to 2011 - two wonderful tour de force characters for virtuoso actors.

[Owl · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was good but absolutely not my cup of tea.

[Tamakatsura · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not sure what the point of the author was.
That the swinging generation was selfish and hedonistic? That the generation of their children is just as selfish? That the former got to enjoy themselves whereas the latter is bearing the brunt of economic deflation? That the latter grew up in the erroneous assumption that they were entitled to freeloading all their lives?
Did he have a point at all?

[Kevin · Rating 3 out of 5]

What is it about family drama that makes it so compelling? Is it that families always seem to know where the soft spots are so the knives go in easily? Act Two is amazing here, but the first and last acts are a bit too schematic to be satisfying, but don't pass on the play on that account. (I don't have the vocabulary to describe the self-important dullness of the introduction, which, if you can't be convinced to skip, should definitely be read after the play and not before).

[Allison McGinnis]

Love, Love, Love by Mike Bartlett was a very different story than I am used to. As the 2 young kids who fall in love and build a life together they are faced with challenges in their love lives as well as their 2 children, Jamie and Rosie. Kenneth and Sandra were never the type of parents for much dicsipline and they were all about having fun in their own lives. The kids struggle while living with their young crazy parents who live life as if its their last day.

[Kristen Lo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Have baby boomers ruined gen x and millennial lives by preaching free love and then voting republican? This play discusses that topic in dramatic form and leaves you uneasy because there aren't really any clear answers-- but you do end up NOT liking any of the characters by the end. That said, it's a topic worth visiting.

[Tom Romig · Rating 4 out of 5]

Act 1, 1967. Act 2, 1990. Act 3, 2011. The same two people at three stages of life, 20, 43, and 64 years old. Their two children first appear in Act 2 at 14 and 16 years old and reappear in Act 3 at 35 and 37. Plenty of time and space to ponder and argue, often searingly, the question what does one generation owe another generation?

[Lewis Jackson · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found the dialogue unrealistic, but maybe it's because I've never met people as awful as the parents in this play. Like other people have mentioned, it's hard to know what message to take away from it, it definitely has one but I'm not sure what it is.

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting plays about baby boomer parents and the challenges faced by their children who can't seem to get what they want as their parents are wrapped up in their own self-involvement. Hard-hitting, but left me a little cool.

[Pippa Catterall · Rating 4 out of 5]

I haven’t seen this in the theatre but would love to. It conveys the selfishness of Boomers and the passive aggression with which they defend themselves with expertly directed satire

[Tuti · Rating 5 out of 5]

excellent

[Brandon Minster · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've recently realized that in really good plays every line is important. This is a really good play.

[Georgia_May · Rating 3 out of 5]

But heavy-handed with the messaging but really enjoyed the characters.
Who’s Henry? No bloody clue.

[Diana Long · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought it was a very cleverly written play which viewed three different time periods starting with the 1960's. It's the baby boomer generation going head to head with the X generation. One can tell the author spent a good deal of time on research and creating his characters to represent the differences in thoughts between the generations. I thought it beneficial that the play included an introduction by James Grieve, who was the director for world premiere in 2010.

[Zsofi · Rating 1 out of 5]

A play we have to design for.

[Kel O'Connor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing play! Cannot wait to see it performed next month!

[Benjamin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Everything ended too abruptly. would have preferred more of the characters of Jamie and Henry.

[Nicole · Rating 1 out of 5]

I’m finally giving up on Bartlett. He writes like he has never met a woman. This play lacks even an iota of nuance.