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Love! Valour! Compassion!
The play revolves around eight gay men who gather for three summer weekends at a lakeside house in Dutchess County, New York, where they relax, reflect, and plan for survival in an era plagued by AIDS.
Love! Valour! Compassion! won the 1995 Tony Award and Drama Desk Award for best Play, along with several other awards. McNally later adapted the script for the 1997 film of the same name.
Love! Valour! Compassion! won the 1995 Tony Award and Drama Desk Award for best Play, along with several other awards. McNally later adapted the script for the 1997 film of the same name.
104 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1995
4 people are currently reading
513 people want to read
About the author
Terrence McNally
93Ìýbooks32ÌýfollowersTerrence McNally was an American playwright, librettist, and screenwriter. Described as "the bard of American theater" and "one of the greatest contemporary playwrights the theater world has yet produced," McNally was the recipient of five Tony Awards. He won the Tony Award for Best Play for Love! Valour!
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
June 24, 2018
This play starts out funny and sweet and develops a horrible bitterness and sadness while still being funny and sweet and overall incredibly powerful in its own quiet way. I especially loved the moments taken out of the timeline, the dreamlike quality and the power of every character telling the audience about their lives and of course, their deaths.
July 5, 2009
HOLY SNAP
I stayed up until 1:20 in the morning reading this. Never mind that I had been asleep on my feet all day. Never mind that I had to wake up early the next morning. Never mind all of that. This was... spectacular. I found myself laughing and sobbing and wishing so hard that it ended somehow different.
This is what I want, ladies. I want to write a play like THIS. One that leaves you full of love and loneliness and feeling like you've been punched in the gut.
I stayed up until 1:20 in the morning reading this. Never mind that I had been asleep on my feet all day. Never mind that I had to wake up early the next morning. Never mind all of that. This was... spectacular. I found myself laughing and sobbing and wishing so hard that it ended somehow different.
This is what I want, ladies. I want to write a play like THIS. One that leaves you full of love and loneliness and feeling like you've been punched in the gut.
October 4, 2022
Okay, this one I really like. I like that it uses a lot of direct address interspersed complexly with time and space slips and slides. And, yknow, reckons with the middle crest of the AIDS disaster. It was honestly hard for me to get a clear picture of all the different white men however-- they didn't really feel articulated in reading quickly, esp Arthur and Perry. Funny. Seems like it would be LONG to stage.
April 20, 2023
this shit was abelist
June 23, 2010
Love! Valour! Compassion! By Terrence McNally � Okay…so it’s a play, not a novel or short story. But it’s totally bril so it has to be included in this list. I know some people can’t get into reading plays the same way they do a book, and maybe it’s the writer in me, but I LOVE it. I get to create the sets in my mind, cast it with actors I like and basically direct the entire thing in my head while I’m reading it. Try it sometime if you haven’t already. It’s fun, damn it!! : ) Other than playing director, the story is also in my opinion, one of the best and most true depictions of gay men I’ve ever read. I can honestly say I either am or know every single one of the characters and like life � it is at times funny & sad, sexy & romantic, as well as sweet & sarcastic. If you just can’t get into reading the play, then watch the film. For me the play is better, but either way, McNally will have you running the emotional gamut, yet somehow leaving you with this incredible feeling of hopefulness.
From my post, The Inside Reader on Elisa Rolle's Reviews & Ramblings -
From my post, The Inside Reader on Elisa Rolle's Reviews & Ramblings -
May 11, 2018
It's pretty good!
A little exhausting, at times, but I think that's intentional. These characters all operate within the art world, and the art world--to my experience and understanding--largely comprises bold and contrasting personalities. Of course the dialogue may be a little much at times.
But that's the big draw with Love! Valour! Compassion! It's a wonderful story, but small. More interesting, I think, is watching the characters interact with one another, in this secluded country house, over one fateful summer. Frankly, I wouldn't even need a definitive plot to invest in these characters. Watching them live is something grand in and of itself.
I'd offer more details but I have none: I read this a while back and don't remember much. But the lack of memory should not indicated a lack in quality. Love! Valour! Compassion! is a wonderful, compelling work of theatre. I definitely recommend you check it out.
A little exhausting, at times, but I think that's intentional. These characters all operate within the art world, and the art world--to my experience and understanding--largely comprises bold and contrasting personalities. Of course the dialogue may be a little much at times.
But that's the big draw with Love! Valour! Compassion! It's a wonderful story, but small. More interesting, I think, is watching the characters interact with one another, in this secluded country house, over one fateful summer. Frankly, I wouldn't even need a definitive plot to invest in these characters. Watching them live is something grand in and of itself.
I'd offer more details but I have none: I read this a while back and don't remember much. But the lack of memory should not indicated a lack in quality. Love! Valour! Compassion! is a wonderful, compelling work of theatre. I definitely recommend you check it out.
September 21, 2014
Satisfyingly quiet. A closer examination of the ever-changing ties that bind in a group of gay friends who meet every summer. McNally is wonderfully warm and understanding of his characters (even when they behave badly) and seeks to normalize what many people find to be frightening and foreign. The stage craft of it is beautiful as well and something many playwrights should take to heart as it embraces a more theatrical reality than many plays often present. Very lovely and very human. And that ending? ...Anyway.
November 27, 2011
To be completely honest, I don't think this is a great play; but I love the original cast (and, relatedly, the film adaptation) so incredibly much that L! V! C! will always have a special place in my heart.
June 10, 2012
I will never understand what compels people to like plays like this. What little truth it contains is buried beneath unfaithfulness, lack of compassion, and cowardice, none of which actually have consequences. No thanks.
May 20, 2012
A very good story with characters you really care about.
March 25, 2013
A very moving drama.
February 24, 2018
This is such a beautiful, well-written play!!! I especially like the extended metaphors and the overlapping lines in different scenes. My favorite character is Buzz <3
June 1, 2018
Brilliant in its construction, execution, and characters� arcs.
July 19, 2018
3.5?
November 30, 2018
McNally writes in the intro that a play is best seen and not read.
I must agree.
I must agree.
January 11, 2025
This script stands out as one of the most rewarding and challenging pieces I’ve recently encountered. It would be fantastic to annotate. The way it breaks the fourth wall is a powerful storytelling technique, executed brilliantly here. I appreciate how it unabashedly captures a moment in popular culture, especially within gay culture, which many plays might shy away from for fear of being cringy. However, the script is challenging to read until each character’s intricacies are fully understood, requiring the actors to be deeply in sync. The natural flow of dialogue demands a strong ensemble for the script to truly shine.
As the director, you must be fully immersed in the characters, knowing them even better than the actors. There’s a significant risk of the production flopping if the director and cast don’t have a crystal-clear understanding of who these characters are. It’s this deep insight that brings the script to life and ensures the story is told authentically and powerfully.
As the director, you must be fully immersed in the characters, knowing them even better than the actors. There’s a significant risk of the production flopping if the director and cast don’t have a crystal-clear understanding of who these characters are. It’s this deep insight that brings the script to life and ensures the story is told authentically and powerfully.
September 4, 2022
2022 Popsugar Reading Challenge: book about a "found family"
This is the 2nd Terrence McNally play that I've read this year. He's really one of the gay voices of his generation. This play takes place over a summer and deals with AIDS/HIV, infidelity and the complex friendship between gay men.
This is the 2nd Terrence McNally play that I've read this year. He's really one of the gay voices of his generation. This play takes place over a summer and deals with AIDS/HIV, infidelity and the complex friendship between gay men.
March 26, 2020
Moving, funny, sad, sexy—boundary pushing within the Broadway mold—it should be celebrated. RIP Terrence.
February 4, 2023
New favorite. So lovely. Would do unspeakable things to see the OBC perform this
April 11, 2020
McNally at his most touching. Beautiful in every way. Read it.
February 4, 2010
Schmaltz.
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
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