Love And Information
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''Love and Information'' is a play written by the British playwright Caryl Churchill. It first opened at the
Royal Court Theatre The Royal Court Theatre, at different times known as the Court Theatre, the New Chelsea Theatre, and the Belgravia Theatre, is a non-commercial West End theatre in Sloane Square, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London, England ...
in September 2012. It received many positive reviews from critics.


Synopsis

The play is a compilation of seven sections each with a number of scenes that range from less than a minute in length to a few minutes long. The seven sections of the play, must be done in order, however the scenes/vignettes within each section can be done in whatever order the director wishes. The "random" section of scenes, included at the end of the play, are able to be incorporated anywhere within the play. This allows the director ample freedom to play with the storyline of the play along with the certain themes and questions they want to highlight with their particular production. The play allows the director and production team to create a version of the play that they want to in all of the varying options and approaches the loose structure of the play allows, along with the wide arrange of casting options - nothing is specific in terms of casting within the show. Within the play are over 100 characters, however none of the characters are named and they can be double cast. After watching the play, writer Jennifer Wilkinson wrote, "The play asks us to consider how meaning is constructed and to participate in the process. The script has few stage directions, the characters are not gendered, the scenes can appear in a different order, and there are some random scenes which can be inserted anywhere in the play. This gives any director and company broad scope for creative input."


Production history


Original production

The original production of ''Love and Information'' was performed by the
Royal Court Theatre The Royal Court Theatre, at different times known as the Court Theatre, the New Chelsea Theatre, and the Belgravia Theatre, is a non-commercial West End theatre in Sloane Square, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London, England ...
. It was directed by James Macdonald. The run time of this play was about an hour and 40 minutes. Macdonald's "energetic production supplies much in the way of context, anchoring each episode in a particular place and creating a kind of social kaleidoscope in the process." In this production, Macdonald cast 16 actors to rotate around and play a large variety of characters throughout the play. The set was designed by
Miriam Buether Miriam Buether is a German stage designer who primarily works in London theatre. She was born in Germany and studied stage design at Central Saint Martin’s College of Art and Design in London and costume design at the Akademie für Kostüm Des ...
. She created a "clinical white-cube set, each piece ada slightly hallucinatory distinctness. Kristin Tillotson of the Startribune writes: "Caryl Churchill's sound-bite exploration of the modern state of human connections and the ever-increasing onslaught of knowledge both useless and profound has something for everyone, especially those with short attention spans. ... his playreminds us that no matter how many sophisticated modes of communicating with other flawed humans that we can access, we'll still manage to misconstrue, misconvey, then kiss and make up, just like always."


Other notable productions

Minneapolis-based Frank Theatre produced ''Love and Information'' January 30-February 22 of 2015. This production went on at the Ritz Theatre in Minneapolis, MN. The show was directed by Wendy Knox and featured Patrick Bailey, Virginia Burke, Joy Dolo, Kirby Bennett, Katherine Ferrand, Tessa Flynn, Emily Grodzik, Brianne Hill, Leif Jurgensen, Taous Khazem, Sam Pearson, Elohim Pena and Carl Schoenborn.
Malthouse Theatre Malthouse Theatre is the resident theatre company of The Malthouse building in Southbank, part of the Melbourne Arts Precinct. In the 1980s it was known as the Playbox Theatre Company and was housed in the Playbox Theatre in Melbourne's CBD. A ...
and Sydney Theatre Company co-produced an Australian production which opened in Melbourne in June 2015 and toured to Sydney in July 2015. The show was directed by
Kip Williams Kip Williams is an Australian theatre and opera director. Williams is the current Artistic Director of Sydney Theatre Company. His appointment at age 30 made him the youngest artistic director in the company's history. Biography Williams has b ...
and featured an ensemble cast of
Ursula Yovich Ursula Yovich is an Aboriginal Australian actress and singer. Early life and education Yovich was born and grew up in Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia. Her father, Slobodan Jović, was a Serbian immigrant who anglicised his name to Stan ...
, Anita Hegh,
Alison Whyte Alison Whyte (born 1968 in Tasmania) is an Australian actress best known for her roles on the Australian television series '' Frontline'' and '' Satisfaction''. Acting career A former student of classical ballet, Whyte graduated from the Victo ...
,
Zahra Newman Zahra Newman is a Jamaican-born Australian actress. Newman was born in Port Antonio Jamaica and spent her formative years in Kingston before migrating to Australia at the age of 14 with her mother. Her interest in the performing arts was nurt ...
, Marco Chiappi, Glenn Hazeldine, Anthony Taufa, and
Harry Greenwood Lieutenant Colonel Harry Greenwood, (25 November 1881 – 5 May 1948) was a British Army officer and an English recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwe ...
. The acclaimed production received two
Green Room Awards The Green Room Awards are peer awards which recognise excellence in cabaret, dance, drama, fringe theatre, musical theatre and opera in Melbourne. The awards were started in 1982 when Blair Edgar and Steven Tandy formed the Green Room Awards A ...
nominations, four Sydney Theatre Awards Nominations, and a nomination for Williams for the
Helpmann Award for Best Direction of a Play The Helpmann Award for Best Direction of a Play is a theatre award, presented by Live Performance Australia (LPA) at the annual Helpmann Awards since 2001. In the following list winners are listed first and marked in gold, in boldface, and the ...
.
Lyric Theatre (Hammersmith) The Lyric Theatre, also known as the Lyric Hammersmith, is a theatre on Lyric Square, off King Street, Hammersmith, London.
produced ''Love and Information'' on the 9 and 10 of August 2016. The show was directed by Sherrill Gow and performed by the Lyric Young Company.


Reception

Elin Diamond of
Rutgers University Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's College, and was ...
lauded Churchill's text as "beautifully wrought". Michael Billington of ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'' awarded the
Royal Court Theatre The Royal Court Theatre, at different times known as the Court Theatre, the New Chelsea Theatre, and the Belgravia Theatre, is a non-commercial West End theatre in Sloane Square, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London, England ...
performance four out of five stars and argued that the playwright "is saying that we have to be he master of technologyrather than its slave and learn how to live with the cascade of fact and opinion. ..For me, Churchill suggests, with compassionate urgency, that our insatiable appetite for knowledge needs to be informed by our capacity for love." Matthew Tucker of ''HuffPost UK'' wrote that the success of the performance is "only partly down to the succinct and thought-provoking script – director James Macdonald has taken a gift of a play, with dialogue that is open to huge interpretation, and has run with it." The critic stated that while some may consider it a gimmick, "the form of the play speaks volumes about the fast turnover of modern life – our jobs, our homes, relationships, media – a pervading sense of impermanence many people feel." Ben Brantley of ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'' lauded ''Love and Information'' as a "thought-churning, deeply poignant new play", arguing, "As a whole, these parts compel us to think about the paradoxical variety and similarity in the ways we try to make sense of our universe and our place in it. And every little snippet of a play here leaves us wondering about what happened before and what happens after what we’ve seen." ''Slant'''s Jason Fitzgerald wrote that Macdonald "turns a play that’s intellectually interesting but potentially tedious into a funny, vivacious, and often tender cornucopia of human experience." Fitzgerald said that the playwright "makes lyrical irony out of our inability to make sense of our universe". Calling Churchill "not only one of the most radically inventive dramatists of the modern era but also one of the most trenchantly observant", Charles McNulty of ''
Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the U ...
'' said that "she appears to concur with her dramatic forebears from 21/2 millenniums ago that knowledge must be irradiated by emotion to become wisdom. Churchill lays bare the frenetic zeitgeist with surgical precision, but she allows mystery and poetry to hold sway." Jesse Green of ''Vulture'' wrote that some scenelets "are not developed enough to build much internal drama, and the sequencing of them builds none. ..a few scenes are too smarty-pants to produce any direct satisfaction. Focusing on that, though, is to ignore the other kinds of pleasure and information the play is providing." Green said that "the writing remains ripe with the recognizable Churchillian qualities of wit and paradox, astringency and forgiveness." Chris Jones of ''
Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television a ...
'' criticized director Shawn Douglass' production because "the individual scenes are mostly not specific and fully realized enough that you can believe they really are happening", but said that the play itself is "a terrific and important play". John Del Signore of Gothamist praIsed the work for avoiding being heavy-handed: "Churchill ..is not here to condemn our Information Age, but to understand how it's changed us". The critic stated, "A few of the shorter scenes have the disposable feel of cheap one-liners ..But other short scenes are surprisingly affecting, and the overall tone is whimsical and sweet." Karen Fricker stated in ''
Toronto Star The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. The newspaper is the country's largest daily newspaper by circulation. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and pa ...
'' that "it’s the brilliant specificity of Churchill’s observations and the clarity of her writing that linger long after the performance is over". In 2018, Catherine Love of ''The Guardian'' noted the "diverse forms of Churchill's writing" despite giving the performance she had seen three out of five stars and comparing it unfavorably to the original performance directed by Macdonald. Dmitry Samarov of '' Chicago Reader'' argued, "By employing a crazy-quilt approach to storytelling, Churchill ably evokes the mediated existence most of us are currently drowning in. It's a place where context is removed, meaning is only fleetingly visible, and distraction passes for hope." ''Chicago'''s Malvika Jolly called the play "poignant". Some reviews were less favorable. ''
Now Now most commonly refers to the present time. Now, NOW, or The Now may also refer to: Organizations * Natal Organisation of Women, a South African women's organization * National Organization for Women, an American feminist organization * Now ...
'''s Glenn Sumi wrote that "the play’s barrage of data becomes as overwhelming as the stuff on our screens, with only intermittent moments holding our interest. ..There’s too much information in this play, and too little love." J. Kelly Nestruck of ''
The Globe and Mail ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of approximately 2 million in 2015, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on weekdays and Saturdays, although it ...
'' stated that the play leaves one with that "uneasy, queasy feeling that you get after spending a similar amount of time on Facebook or Twitter." John Nathan of ''
The Jewish Chronicle ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...
'' admitted to "a nagging doubt that it would not have made it to the stage if it had not been written by the Royal Court’s most revered living writer", and stated that "sometimes the message is buried in banal exchanges — so deeply it might as well not be there at all." Michael Lake of '' The Coast'' called it a beautiful mess and wrote, "At its best, ''Love and Information'' feels like getting tiny glimpses into huge worlds. When it achieves this, we feel the weight of many small moments strung together, and the promise that it might all add up to something. We see friends, lovers, parents, children, strangers, all trying hard to connect, or to say something to one another. At its worst, it feels like a constant scrolling through your newsfeed and seeing something catch your eye but not stopping to find out what it is." In ''The Telegraph'', Charles Spencer dubbed ''Love and Information'' "the dramatic equivalent of going through countless emails, some interesting, some touching, some funny, some alarming, and many downright dull. A bewildering sense of information overload sets in and on my return from the theatre I realised that probably only half a dozen of the many scenes had lodged themselves firmly in my memory. So I read the play and once again a good deal of it still failed to linger in my mind." He argued, of the vignette in which a woman confides to a young boy that she is his mother, that Churchill insufficiently explores the emotional consequences.


General references

* Churchill, Caryl. ''Love and Information''. New York: Theatre Communications Group, 2013. Print. * Cousin, Geraldine. ''Churchill, the Playwright''. London: Methuen Drama, 1989. Print. * Gagliano, Lynne, and Caitlin McLeod. ''Love and Information: Background Pack''. London: Royal Court Theatre. PDF. * Kritzer, Amelia Howe. ''Open-ended Inquiries: The Plays of Caryl Churchill''. Ann Arbor, MI: U Microfilms Internat., 1988. Print. * "Love and Information - Frank Theatre." ''Frank Theatre''. Web. 201. * Lyall, Sarah. "The Mysteries of Caryl Churchill." ''New York Times'' 5 Dec. 2004. Print. * Selmon, Michael Layne. ''Engendering Drama: Caryl Churchill and the Stages of Reform''. College Park, Md: U of Maryland, 1988. Print. * Taylor, Paul. ''The Independent''. Independent Digital News and Media, 18 Sept. 2012. Web. * Thompson, Tim. ''The Embodied Mind: Character and Subjectivity in the Work of Samuel Beckett, Tom Stoppard, Caryl Churchill and Jacques Lacan''. 1996. Print. * Tillotson, Kristin. "'Love and Information': Snapshots of Modern Communication." ''Star Tribune''. 4 Feb. 2015. Web. * Tripney, Natasha. "Love and Information." ''The Stage''. 20 Sept. 2015. Web. Wilkinson, Jennifer. "Love and Information." ''Socialist Review''. Oct. 2012. Web.


References

{{Caryl Churchill Plays by Caryl Churchill 2012 plays