Calling Fool for Love ' 'mysterious and unsettling, " Oliver offers a favorable appraisal of Shepard's play, also terming the work "as funny as anything he's ever done."

Sam Shepard, the California (at present) spellbinder, has brought his company from San Francisco's Magic Theatre to the Circle Repertory in his new play Fool for Love, which he himself has directed, and which will run through June 19th. It is as mysterious and unsettling—now you see it, now you don't—as spare and, incidentally, as funny as anything he has ever done. I cannot remember being taken aback more often, at so many unpredictable moments, and I'll try, in describing it, to spoil as few of the surprises as possible. The action takes place in a motel room in California, at the edge of the Mojave Desert. A young woman, utterly dejected, is sitting on the edge of...