Review: 'Hold On to Love'

Second chances abound in Tabard Theatre's adaptation of James Barrie's comedy

By Staff (Feb 09, 2010 )

IF YOU COULD go back and do it all over again, would you? The unsuspecting characters in James M. Barrie’s Hold On to Love are given the chance to redo their mundane lives. Barrie’s original title was Dear Brutus. The Tabard Theatre Company has modernized it a little bit, saying it speaks better to this generation. The play, running at the Theatre on San Pedro Square, is a jovial fantasy, perfect for a family environment.

Barrie, who is best known for Peter Pan, sets the three-act play in England in 1919 on Midsummer’s Eve. Lob (pronounced “lobe,” which is ironic, considering his behavior) is an eccentric childlike man who has invited some guests to his house because they all have one thing in common: their lives are terrible. The women are catty and dimwitted; the men, boorish and conniving. Lob tells them a tale of a strange wooded area that appears only on Midsummer’s Eve. No one is quite sure what happens to folks when they enter the mysterious wood because no one ever comes out. But the one sure thing is the opportunity to experience their lives if they had made different decisions. Whether the turnout is for the better or worse is undetermined. The wood appears in Lob’s garden, and the guests jump at the once-in-a-dreary-lifetime chance.

Andrew Ceglio plays Lob and steals the small scenes he’s actually in. There’s a great deal of mystery about who Lob is, because apparently this isn’t the first time he has invited people to his house and sent them off into the wood. Dirk Leatherman also shines as Mr. Dearth, the drunk artist who could’ve been so much more. His wife, played by Leslie Hardy, takes bitch to a whole new level of superb acting. In all honesty, the whole cast was entertaining. Even though this play is billed as a comedy, I did walk out with a sense that I don’t want my own life to end up like any of these people. It just goes to show life is truly what we make of it.

HOLD ON TO LOVE, a Tabard Theatre Production, plays Thursday–Friday at 8pm, Saturday at 3 and 8pm and Sunday at 2pm through Feb. 20 at Theatre on San Pedro Square, 29 N. San Pedro St., San Jose. Tickets are $10-$24. (800.838.3006)