Interludes

THE HANGOVER REPORT – Led by the singular David Greenspan, Tom Stoppard’s THE INVENTION OF LOVE is revived with passion and intelligence

• By drediman
• October 3, 2026
• No Comments

This weekend, The Map’s intimate revival of Tom Stoppard’s The Invention of Love wraps up performances at TheaterLab (luckily, I was able to catch the sold out production earlier this week). The work begins with a recently deceased A.E. Housman as he commences his journey across the River Styx. As the play unfolds, time collapses and scenes of Housman’s youth come flooding back to him, particularly those relating to his longing for and growing infatuation with his fellow classmate during their time in Oxford and beyond. Part memory play, part lecture, part debate on competing philosophies, the work vacillates between modes of theatrical conveyance as it explores the intrinsic meaning of love, friendship, and desire.

Despite collecting multiple awards, the 1997 play has been relatively rarely mounted over the years. The piece represents Stoppard at his most intellectually rigorous and intimidatingly monolithic, making the three-hour play potentially a tough slog to have to sit through. Indeed, as with many of the late, great playwright’s other works, The Invention of Love is about many things — scholarship, love, poetry, queerness, mortality, sexuality — which can seem a bit daunting to dissect. Luckily, as staged director Zachary Elkind, the vigorously-paced production kept up with the textually dense play and its dizzying (over-)flow of ideas, shaping it admirably for theatrical consumption. Alongside his committed cast, Elkind encourages viewers to lean in and bask in Stoppard’s exhilarating — albeit relentless — waves of references, insights, and intellectual connections. Suffice to say, TheaterLab is an inspired choice for the play. With its signature white-washed playing space, the venue suggests a blank slate on which bold ideas can be writ large (as aided by Bridget Lindsay’s simple yet stylish set design, which evokes the notion that we are all on a journey).

As led by the singular actor David Greenspan as the older Housman, the production is by and large intelligently and passionately acted. The cast — many of them having to slip in and out of multiple roles — handily take on the challenging requirements of the demanding play with conviction. Greenspan is hypnotically transparent as the poet and scholar navigates the arguments that rage through his mind, and by extension, processes his emotions. His scenes with younger Housman — capably played with grace and articulation by Yaron Lotan (a young actor worth looking out for) — are particularly moving, ringing with an aching (and increasing) sense of regret, as well as wonder for the preciousness of life and our capacity create meaning out of chaos.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

THE INVENTION OF LOVE
Off-Broadway, Play
The Map at TheaterLab
3 hours (with one intermission)
Through October 3