Love's Fire · Paulipedia

Love's Fire
Original language	English
Written by	John Guare Wendy Wasserstein Eric Bogosian Ntozake Shange Tony Kushner William Finn Marsha Norman
Premiere
Date	1998
Directed by	Mark Lamos

Love's Fire is a collection of seven short plays by American writers based on Shakespeare's Sonnets. It was commissioned and premiered by The Acting Company in its 1997-98 season,^[1] and directed by Mark Lamos. It was presented by the Barbican Centre in London, before transferring to the Joseph Papp Public Theatre Off Broadway.^[2]

Plays

The plays comprised:^[2]

"Bitter Sauce" by Eric Bogosian, inspired by Sonnet 118
"Hydraulics Phat Like Mean" by Ntozake Shange, inspired by Sonnet 128; a dance piece, with original music by Chico Freeman and choreography by Dyane Harvey
"140" by Marsha Norman, inspired by Sonnet 140
"Terminating" by Tony Kushner, inspired by Sonnet 75
"Painting You" by William Finn, inspired by Sonnet 102
"Waiting for Philip Glass" by Wendy Wasserstein, inspired by Sonnet 94
"The General of Hot Desire" by John Guare, inspired by Sonnets 153 and 154; original music by Adam Guettel

"Love's Fire 1997/98". The Acting Company. Retrieved July 7, 2017.
Wolf, Matt (June 1, 1998). "Love's Fire". Variety. Retrieved November 12, 2025. Production: LONDON A Barbican Intl. Theater Event presentation of an Acting Co. production, in association with the Guthrie Theater and the Barbican Center(sic)...