Love Trap

Ulster playwright Brian Friel's Lovers has two constituent parts: "Winners" and "Losers." "Winners" involves two teenagers, Joe and Mag, and their love affair which results in Mag's pregnancy. When Friel wrote this play in 1967, an out-of-wedlock pregnancy was still very much cause for scandal in Ireland. And because Mag is in the family way, she and her boyfriend are asked to leave their schools in disgrace. "Losers" paints a miniature of love at a very different stage in life. Hanna and Andy are both over 40 and trying to make their relationship a keeper, despite the endless interference of Hanna's mother who wants the couple to part -- but in 1960s Ireland, divorce was also a scandal. The West End Players Guild performs Lovers at 8 p.m. Thursday through Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday (February 14 through February 23) in the Union Avenue Christian Church (733 Union Boulevard; 314-367-0025 or www.westendplayers.org). Tickets are $20.
Thursdays-Sundays. Starts: Feb. 14. Continues through Feb. 23, 2014