Some Small Love Story

I’m not sure if the Flanagan Collective had Erich Segal’s Love Story in mind when they developed this show (the title implies they did), but there are more than a few parallels with that classic weepie.

A meditation on love and loss, it centres on two couples affected by grief – one elderly and one young. Inevitably it’s the tale of newlyweds torn apart by a tragic accident that packs the real emotional punch (hence the Love Story connection), and by the end there were very few dry eyes around me.

This has to be one of the least physical pieces of theatre I’ve seen (the four singers stand stationary throughout), yet somehow it feels deeply dynamic and never did my focus flag.

At times it’s undoubtedly mawkish, and some may find it a little too emotionally indulgent. But at a festival where poorly conceived, hammy musicals proliferate, it’s a great pleasure to see four talented young performers singing from the heart about romances that feel painfully authentic.