Love letters
©Compagnia Il teatro delle quisquilie
Love Letters debuted at the New York Public Library in 1988, and was billed on Broadway the same year. It had great success, over time it was hosted by many libraries and filmed by several companies, even with actors such as Tom Hanks and Mia Farrow. Gurney chose a library as the ideal location for his debut to respect the very nature of the show: the life of two people told through the reading of dozens of letters.
The plot Andrew Makepeace Ladd III and Melissa Gardner begin to write their first messages during childhood and early adolescence, then continue to send each other deeper and deeper letters. After high school Andy goes to Yale successfully, while Melissa is expelled from several schools_._ There is an obvious emotional connection between the two_,_ but when Andrew leaves for war_,_ Melissa marries. Back from the war, Andrew becomes a successful lawyer, he also marries, is apparently realized, is even elected to the Senate. Their lives continue between estrangements and intertwinings, successes and moments of despair. The letters that are exchanged are sometimes poignant and sometimes funny. Hundreds of letters, millions of written words, but also many unspoken words. Writing letters is an act of the past, but this text gives us back a human dimension that technology has taken from us. We can only agree with Andy when, as a boy, he writes to Melissa: This letter that I am writing myself, with my pen, with my handwriting, comes to me and no one else, and it is my gift to you. It’s not a phone call, he dies as soon as it’s over. No, this is me, I as I write, I in my style of writing, the way I want to be to you, give myself to you from afar, not keeping or holding anything for myself, giving you this part of me completely. And you can tear me apart and throw me away, or hold me and read me today, tomorrow, whenever you want until you die. In case of rain the show will take place at the Auditorium of the Municipal Library, in Piazzetta degli Alpini in Lavis