Growing old and dying are two things that haunt us all. I fear that as I get older, the person I once was will begin to disappear. I worry about the fragments of my life that I will leave scattered behind me – will they be worth it? I worry that I won’t be remembered and that growing old will only bring me closer to my death. This, in many ways, is a direct reaction to Love Song, Frantic Assembly’s latest production at Lyric Hammersmith. I feel sure that many members of the audience had the same experiences, because Abi Morgan’s play so naturally captures universal fears.

Love Song is a production that speaks to all generations, judging from the silenced audience of school children and adults alike when I watched. Morgan’s play lightly touches upon our worries of growing old, and our desires to love and be loved, whilst wonderfully wrapping the whole thing up ready for Frantic Assembly’s joint directors Scott Graham and Steven Hoggett to bring their playful theatre to life. Frantic Assembly has, for many years, been producing productions which seem to have a formula: great writer, great music, great physical movement,  all of which attract a young, dedicated audience. Whilst this made for some excellent theatre I have always worried that the formula was indeed too formulaic. A piece of theatre was so clearly Frantic Assembly that it was carving out its own language in theatre dictionaries – like the Pinter Pause. Love Song, however, is a piece of theatre that tickles us lightly, it wraps the story around us and cradles us gently, a far cry from the kicking and screaming a normal Frantic Assembly production can bring about (for good reasons too).

Telling the story of a couple, Love Song is split between a young William/Margaret and the older Billy/Maggie, depicting the highs and lows of a relationship. Morgan’s text weaves between the honeymoon period of early relationship bliss to the older, refined relationship of a couple who have been together some forty years. The stories twist between each other so at times an older Billy directs dialogue at a younger Margaret, and vice versa. Coupled with Graham and Hoggett’s signature physical movement, the relationship between the couple is physically played with, moving between straight dialogue and movement showing the topography of this couple’s relationship beautifully.

The production values within Love Song are enough to make you swoon, too. Carolyn Downing’s sound design with Ian William Galloway’s video projections evoke the emotions that Frantic Assembly seeks to gain from its audience. I would be lying if I said I wasn’t moved emotionally and shed a tear or two by the end; only a man with a heart of stone couldn’t be moved by Love Song.

Hats off to Sarah Hughes’s casting: the full Love Song cast of Edward Bennett, Sam Cox, Sian Phillips and Leanne Rowe work wonders on the Lyric’s stage. They glide between scenes, often heart warmingly funny and tragic, giving real life to Morgan’s dialogue. It’s also great to see a piece of work which celebrates the differences of the age of its cast, and of age as a whole. There are some simplistic but loving movement interactions between Sian Phillips and Edward Bennett, the old with the young creating a language that speaks between and beyond Morgan’s dialogue and themes.

Love Song is a piece of theatre that is about growing old and falling in love. About the endurance of relationships and the decaying of the human body. It’s a refreshing, more distilled Frantic Assembly production, and one that will be sure to strike an emotional cord within each and every one of its audience members. If Love Song has anything to teach a younger audience, it is to enjoy life to its fullest, to accept love when it happens, and to understand that relationships are about being in a constant flux, even if you’re nearing ‘the end’. Nothing is a given, and everything is to play for. A caring and weepy night of theatre.

Love Song is playing at the Lyric Hammersmith until 4 February. For more information and tickets, see the Lyric Hammersmith Theatre’s website. Image by Johan Persson.