SOURCE: ";Sam Shepard's Free-for-All: Fool for Love at the Magic Theatre,"; in Theater, Vol. XIV, No. 3, Summer-Fall, 1983, pp. 77-82.

In the following excerpt, Kleb discusses Shepard's thematic treatment of fantasy and reality in Fool for Love and also points out several ";troubling"; factors regarding Shepard's ";attitude towards gender, sexuality and sexual role definition. ";

Fool for Love, Sam Shepard's new play, lasts one hour and forty minutes. There is no intermission. As directed by Shepard himself in a world premiere at the Magic Theatre in San Francisco, the effect is relentless, explosive, exhausting—and troubling. The playwright/director and his four actors seem determined to generate enough energy to blast themselves and the audience out of the cramped confines of the Magic Theatre's tiny, 99-seat proscenium house. The performance is passionate; the play, on the most immediate level, is about passion. …

Fool for Love, … comes across as a kind...