the Play LOVE GOES to WAR by Martha Gellhorn & Virginia Cowles

The play LOVE GOES TO PRESS at the Mint Theatre was written by two female war correspondents is a  romantic farce set in Italy during WWII just miles from the German front.  The back story to this play is far more compelling than the frivilous escapism play that seemed unending.  Perhaps at the time, this harmless, silliness served as diversion from the horrors of war.  Credit is owed to both Gellhorn and Cowles, ground-breaking war correspondents who risked their lives in some of the world's worst conflicts while dealing with a mainly hostile men's club of reporters.  In all fairness, Gellhorn concedes, "I must advise you at once, that this play bears no resemblence whatever, of any kind at all, to war and war correspondents.  It is a joke.  It was intended to make people laugh."  It failed to cause any explosions of laughter, it was a total dud.  However, I tip my hat in admiration for their real life bravery and bravado.  There is some titillation in the poorly concealed character that represented Hemingway, Gellhorn's real life husband for a time. They met while both were covering the Spanish Civil War.  I also admire the ladies who chose to spend many of their down hours writing a play rather than merely playing poker like their male co-horts.  I call for a truce and ask that they put this bomb to rest and shut it down for good.