‘Love Goes to Press’ and Goes Awry on the Front

Annabelle Jones (Heidi Armbruster) and Jane Mason (Angela Pierce) are journalists who are there for each other in "Love Goes to Press." Photo by Richard Termine.

BY TAMARA BECK

THE rom-com formulae are as old as theater, and they never fail to entertain.

“Love Goes to Press,” created by Martha Gellhorn and Virginia Cowles for a West End run in 1946 as a lark, has a piquant take on the familiar. It is playing at the Mint Theater Company through 29 July.

At the time of the writing, MG was divorced from Ernest Hemingway. VC was newly married to British journalist Aidan Crowley. The women knew of what they wrote. Like the play’s authors, the heroines in “Love Goes to Press” are journalists on the frontline of war.

Love is in the offing for Jane Mason (Angela Pierce) and Major Philip Brooke-Jervaux (Bradford Cover). The starchy officer at the press camp in Poggibonsi finds the reporter both irritating and fetching. Meanwhile, Annabelle Jones (Heidi Armbruster), Jane's friend who represents a San Francisco paper, finds her reunion with her ex, Joe Rogers (Rob Breckenridge) complicated by his engagement to actress Daphne Rutherford (Margot White). Daphne is on the front to entertain the troops. (See video at http://www.minttheater.org/currentproduction.php?tab=tab-1)

Bradford Cover (seated), Rob Breckenridge, Margot White, David Graham Jones, Curzon Dobell and Jay Patterson in “Love Goes To Press.” Photo by Richard Termine.

More drama ensues when in a case of mistaken identity press liaison officer Capt. Alastair Drake (Peter Cormican) puts Daphne in harm’s way, allowing Jane – who was the intended target – a heroic rescue.

Romance blossoms and wanes in “Love Goes to Press.” The acting never falters for a moment; nor does the direction by Jerry Ruiz.

Visit http://www.minttheater.org to learn more about “Love Goes to Press.”