The Love Knot

For sheer entertainment and fun, this play is hard to beat, even by the merry farces of Molière, who obviously has influenced this American writer, a young Hollywood native who can't remember when he was not enthralled with the theatre. "Upon entering high school," McFaden says, "I was introduced to the works of Molière. I took such a liking to his plays and his style of writing that I became known as the 'Molière Freak' of the high school." The Love Knot, a 20th-century reincarnation of Molière's style, is the fruit of that fascination. The Love Knot is a farce in the Molière manner. For sheer delight, with characters that sparkle with that tinkling kind of gaiety that keeps the audience laughing, you can't find a better one-act play. A 17th-century analyst, bored with his success, decides to give the wrong advice to his next patient, a pompous aristocrat who can't imagine why his love, Aminta, doesn't adore him. The analyst recommends that he shower his attention on Lucille, a sleazy, boorish barmaid. Lucille is thrilled, but her lover, the equally boorish Picard, is not—until the analyst points Picard at the fashionable Aminta. The merry mix-up keeps the characters jousting and the audience laughing, while reminding us that it is better not to pretend to be something we are not. For junior-high, high-school, college and community drama. Excellent contest play.