Love & Information

by Caryl Churchill

A stunningly ambitious work from one of the UK's most influential playwrights. Someone sneezes. Someone can't get a signal. Someone shares a secret. Someone won't answer the door. Someone put an elephant on the stairs. Someone's not ready to talk. Someone is her brother's mother. Someone hates irrational numbers. Someone told the police. Someone got a message from the traffic light. Someone's never felt like this before. In this fast-moving kaleidoscope, more than a hundred characters try to make sense of what they know. Premiered at the Royal Court in September 2012. 'This exhilarating theatrical kaleidoscope... What is extraordinary about Churchill is her capacity as a dramatist to go on reinventing the wheel' The Guardian 'The wit, invention and structural integrity of Churchill's work are remarkable... She never does the same thing twice' The Telegraph 'A wonderful web of complex emotions, memories, secrets and facts' A Younger Theatre

Genres: Plays, Theatre, Drama, School, Read For School, Contemporary, Fiction

96 pages, Paperback

First published September 6, 2012

About the author

Caryl Churchill (born 3 September 1938) is an English dramatist known for her use of non-naturalistic techniques and feminist themes, dramatisation of the abuses of power, and exploration of sexual politics.[1] She is acknowledged as a major playwright in the English language and one of world theatre's most influential writers.

Her early work developed Bertolt Brecht's modernist dramatic and theatrical techniques of 'Epic theatre' to explore issues of gender and sexuality. From A Mouthful of Birds (1986) onwards, she began to experiment with forms of dance-theatre, incorporating techniques developed from the performance tradition initiated by Antonin Artaud with his 'Theatre of Cruelty'. This move away from a clear Fabel dramaturgy towards increasingly fragmented and surrealistic narratives characterises her work as postmodernist.

Prizes and awards

Churchill has received much recognition, including the following awards:

1958 Sunday Times/National Union of Students Drama Festival Award Downstairs
1961 Richard Hillary Memorial Prize
1981 Obie Award for Playwriting, Cloud Nine
1982 Obie Award for Playwriting, Top Girls
1983 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize (runner-up), Top Girls
1984 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, Fen
1987 Evening Standard Award for Best Comedy of the Year, Serious Money
1987 Obie Award for Best New Play, Serious Money
1987 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, Serious Money
1988 Laurence Olivier/BBC Award for Best New Play, Serious Money
2001 Obie Sustained Achievement Award
2010 Inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame.

Plays

Downstairs (1958)
You've No Need to be Frightened (1959?)
Having a Wonderful Time (1960)
Easy Death (1960)
The Ants, radio drama (1962)
Lovesick, radio drama (1969)
Identical Twins (1960)
Abortive, radio drama (1971)
Not Not Not Not Not Enough Oxygen, radio drama (1971)
Owners (1972)
Schreber's Nervous Illness, radio drama (1972) – based on Memoirs of My Nervous Illness
The Hospital at the Time of the Revolution (written 1972)
The Judge's Wife, radio drama (1972)
Moving Clocks Go Slow, (1973)
Turkish Delight, television drama (1973)
Objections to Sex and Violence (1975)
Light Shining in Buckinghamshire (1976) [7]
Vinegar Tom (1976)
Traps (1976)
The After-Dinner Joke, television drama (1978)
Seagulls (written 1978)
Cloud Nine (1979)
Three More Sleepless Nights (1980)
Top Girls (1982)
Crimes, television drama (1982)
Fen (1983)
Softcops (1984)
A Mouthful of Birds (1986)
A Heart's Desire (1987)[18]
Serious Money (1987)
Ice Cream (1989)
Hot Fudge (1989)
Mad Forest (1990)
Lives of the Great Poisoners (1991)
The Skriker (1994)
Blue Heart (1997)
Hotel (1997)
This is a Chair (1999)
Far Away (2000)
Thyestes (2001) – translation of Seneca's tragedy
A Number (2002)
A Dream Play (2005) – translation of August Strindberg's play
Drunk Enough to Say I Love You? (2006)
Seven Jewish Children – a play for Gaza (2009)
Love and Information (2012)
Ding Dong the Wicked (2013)
Here We Go (play) (2015)

source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caryl_Ch...

Reviews

[Mahtab Safdari · Rating 5 out of 5]

GOD’S VOICE

God told you to do it?
He did, yes.
How?
How do you mean, how?
Did you hear words?
It was the word of God.
But like something you could hear with your ears, actual words
from outside you?
They came into me.
The words.
What God said.
So you didn’t exactly hear…?
In my heart.
So how does that work then?
I was praying about it
in words?
sometimes in words, sometimes just
silently
the words were silent, I was praying in
in your head
if you like, my head my heart
so sometimes in words and sometimes
sometimes just being in a state where I was praying
I don’t know what state that is
well you’ll have to take it from me there is such a state
ok, so there you are praying
praying and not knowing, seeking guidance, open to guidance from God
ok
and he told me what to do.
What’s his voice like?
Firm. Kind.
He speaks English?
What sort of a question is that?
I know but does he speak rp or have a regional accent? I’m trying to
understand what you heard.
It wasn’t hearing like I hear you but it was hearing.
And he definitely said do it.
He said do it.
In words.
In words and inside me in knowing it was the right thing to do.
In your heart?
Right through my whole being.
In your toes?
Yes in my toes, will you stop now?

[Iris · Rating 5 out of 5]

Searching for monologues for an audition and 'Manic' is one I'm considering. I wish I could see this play performed, there's so many different ways this could be staged and it would be so fun to be in.

[Allen Roberts · Rating 4 out of 5]

With thanks to Mahtab for the rec…

This is a play, written in brief vignettes on many topics. Accordingly, it’s presumably better enjoyed performed than read. But there are some tasty nuggets of dialogue in here ranging from ticklishly intellectual to warmly familiar to amusing to uncomfortable. The cumulative effect of the whole gives an interesting, mindbending taste of the weirdness we know as the human experience. It’s safe to say this play has at least a little something (or possibly a great deal) that anyone can relate to. I would enjoy seeing it performed.

A couple of examples:

SEX

What sex evolved to do is get information from two sets of genes so you get offspring that’s not identical to you. Otherwise you just keep getting the same thing over and over again like hydra or starfish. So sex is essentially is information.

You don’t think that while we’re doing it do you?

It doesn’t hurt to know it. Information and also love.

If you’re lucky.


GOD

God gives your life meaning. You’ve said that.

Yes, so?

If there wasn’t God there’d be no meaning to your existence?

And?

So does God have a higher god to give his existence meaning? and that god a higher god and that god

no of course not

of course not, so all this stuff he’s done, he might find it all a bit meaningless. I’m surprised he’s not depressed.

I don’t think he minds whether he means anything or not. I don’t think he thinks about it.

So why do you think about it?

I’m not God am I?

But I don’t mind not meaning anything, does that make me God?

It makes you really annoying.

(pp. 61-62; punctuation is the author’s own)

[Matthew · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ultimately, too aimless to have a lasting effect, but this unique experiment from Caryl Churchill is not a play to look down upon. Lots of little short scenes collide in a polychromatic patchwork of different scenarios and thematic ideas in which you have to give the act their own individual context(s). Interesting.

[Kayla Kaufman · Rating 5 out of 5]

An amazing read for a director, or anyone with an imagination. Caryl Churchill gives something magical to explore here.

[Jeff Arena · Rating 4 out of 5]

Caryl Churchill never writes the same play twice, and--more thrillingly--she never re-uses the same dramatic conceit or structure a second time, either. Love and Information is a scripts that incorporates some of the chance techniques associated with John Cage in music. There are dozens of short scenes, grouped into seven sections. The scenes can be re-ordered by her collaborators however they wish; the sections need to remain in the author's order. There are also additional scenes that can be incorporated however best suits a production. Obviously, a script that places itself so trustingly in the hands of its collaborators isn't going to be driven by plot. It's more of a collage, in which meaning accumulates through context rather than narrative. In that way, the script is a puzzle that invites all participants, from the director to the audience, to pull the production into shape. It won't be replicated from experience to experience. Perhaps this is no coincidence for a play attempting to raise questions about communication. The tension between fact and emotion is one recurring motif, as is the act of revelation. With no overarching story to tell, the play needn't confine itself to one answer or even one question. Like our internetted era, overripe with ways to find information and (maybe) love, the play is a sampling of myriad conversations: related but isolated, personal and yet performed, replied to but unanswered. This may not be one of Churchill's masterworks, but it is clever, though-provoking, and vital.

[Jennifer Bridge · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent vignette play about... Love and... Information. It really is that vague but the vignettes are so specific. Licensing allows you to pick and choose the vignettes more or less so it can be very adult or more young adult friendly depending on the cut.

[Sam Hibberd · Rating 3 out of 5]

A play full of lots of little scenes exploring people and the struggles of love in a situation with information in a situation, like the fight between feelings and brain 🧠 so it’s a pretty interesting play, definitely for people who like interesting theatre, not my cup of tea entirely but it did make me feel a lot so can’t complain too much, just not something I’d read for leisure

[edie · Rating 4 out of 5]

really cool play, kinda overwhelming how much possibility it has and all the different potential ways you could shape it in performance. but yeah i actually really enjoyed reading this, despite how disconnected each scene is they all have a sort of natural flow that makes it quite fun to act out/read aloud while you’re reading it.

[alishaa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I JUST HAD A SHOWER THOUGHT/REMEMBRANCE, THAT I HAD READ THIS, AND FELT THIS MASSIVE WAVE OF NOSTALGIA (the smell of the theatre room’s grandpa-pube carpet😫😍😍) so im adding this to my read collection🤭🤭

[Frankie DeGiorgio · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't know guys. I don't know. It worked for me.

[Simon · Rating 3 out of 5]

On one hand, very good! On the other, very bad. :/

[Nenúfares ☽ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mucho tiempo sin leer teatro contemporáneo. Mis escenas favoritas fueron "ex" y "decisión"

[samruddhi · Rating 3 out of 5]

very interesting. curious about how this will play out on stage.

[Dayna Cheatham · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5⭐️

[Kat Kuo · Rating 4 out of 5]

rare caryl churchill w !?! I liked this!! I feel like this has the potential to be staged terribly, but it’s great to read - funny, clever, and doesn’t feel gimmicky.

[Emma · Rating 4 out of 5]

this play is definitely meant for the stage. I need to see it, not once, but multiple times, each time in a different director's mind.

[Sonia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Es interesante. Consiste en escenas muy cortitas, por lo que a veces siento que no van a ningún lado y no me acaba de interesar. Sin embargo, de vez en cuando una escena me llama particularmente la atención. Son muy concretas, y pienso que hay calidad en ellas, por el hecho que me imagino algunas situaciones con mucha claridad y me fascinan, estoy segura de que las escenas que no me han gustado tienen su jugo. Por como esta escrito, sin ahondar en ello, quizás me quedo muy analítica, porque el texto pide ser actuado con mucha humanidad, que es lo que enriquece temas que a primera vista pueden resultar no interesantes y hasta banales. Tiene que ser una experiencia muy buena el verlo siendo interpretado, y también interpretarlo!!!! Si fuese profesora de teatro usaría escenas de aquí para enseñar a mis alumnos la estructura dramática, y también sería muy divertido hacer improvisaciones a partir de las situaciones planteadas. Así que en resumen, concreta de haberlo leído

[Zosia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Churchill’s way of writing is so honest and true that you can’t help but love this play. The way she bring everyday situations and conversations to light shows attention to detail.
I performed this play a few years ago and found the freedom to explore each section separately rather intriguing. Unlike many plays each subtitle doesn’t correlate to the next, and each section has no link to one another. I actually found this rather intriguing to be able to explore this play in so many different ways and techniques.

[massmarketbareback · Rating 4 out of 5]

this play scares me

[Charlie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is upsetting!

[Jer Lesperance · Rating 2 out of 5]

AMAZING for scene study! terrible for a fully-realized stage production.

[Lillian Lippold · Rating 5 out of 5]

I didn’t really know what to expect from this book. It was lent to me by my drama teacher because I’d expressed some interest in playwriting and my expertise is in poetry. This book is a perfect bridging of worlds.

I am in LOVE with this concept of scenes being placed in whatever order one wants. My director wheels were turning the entire time, especially when it came to the addition of the “random” scenes at the very end.

Not only that, but I am absolutely enthralled by the literary merit and beauty of these words. Phrasing and poetic devices were used in a GENIUS capacity. I made audible reactions reading certain lines and certain scenes. I felt my mind expand and hold every single one of these scenes. It was a beautiful thing to experience.

Churchill does so many beautiful things in such a quiet and understated capacity. I am so grateful to have read this book. I feel the inspiration coursing through me.

[Jack Davidson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This one will stick with me forever.

I remember being exposed to some of the wonderful work from this collection back in the summer of 2015 when I helped produce a number of short plays dealing with love, depression, and hope.
But I wasn't prepared it would it me this hard when I read it 3 1/2 years later.

Churchill takes the most complex ideas about philosophy, religion, biology, and mental health and beautifully transforms them into dialogue that is at times charming, thought provoking, and heartbreaking.

Each scene is just a fragment of a conversation on a topic that left me pondering over and over again in thought... On some of my favorites I had to remind myself that it was a play and there was more to read.

This play asks many questions regarding technology, our relationships with one another, and who we are in the fast changing world around us.

[Elly Roberts · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a drama teacher, I think this play is invaluable for teaching the fundamentals of acting as it allows for so much creativity and shows how important it can be to use practitioners. I've used it for lessons where you just muck about, because people don't feel they have to subscribe to a singular character or storyline, and that's great for developing a sense of play. However, it's also useful for showing how important it is to develop shared circumstances and using Uta Hagen. I think I'm a bit tired of it so couldn't say how much I enjoy reading the play by itself, but I sort of think the best plays are ones that are only really great once a creative team has put their spin on it, or else the play may as well be a novel.

[Frank · Rating 5 out of 5]

Caryl Churchill has written a fascinating collection of enigmatic plays loosely related to the title, though in truth, they seem to be about anything on her mind at the time of writing. They are broken into sections which can be performed in any order the company wants. With a simple set and small cast (I think the largest number of people on stage at any given time is four) it could make for a fascinating interactive production, with the audience determining the running order at each performance. I'm sorry I can't get up to Toronto for the CanStage production this spring.

[Jessica López-Barkl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Caryl Churchill is my favorite playwright, and this play did not disappoint in her ability to challenge her reader, her audience, and the form of theater itself. I don't know how this play would work on stage, and I would be excited to explore it, if I ever get the chance. I loved the subtle commentary on society (a consistent trope of hers) and the beautiful intimacy and (almost) shyness of the piece. These scenes would be great to introduce to students of theater and the play itself would be a special addition to any text analysis or literature of the theater class.

[Semi-Colin · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a really interesting venture in structure and style, this is the first Caryl Churchill play I’ve read or seen. As with all plays I feel like this one in particular would make more sense performed, however maybe that’s the point, it’s just information. I’d be interested to see it a few times in different productions, that’s the magic of this play, every different group of creatives who decide to put it on will find a completely different meaning. Looking forward to reading more of her work.

[Kieron · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a re-read as I studied the play, so I thought I'd read it for pleasure instead. I'm usually a big fan of experimental work, but the issue is that whilst there are many recurring themes (see memory, dangers of technology, relationships, societal expectations etc.) there aren't any recurring characters. I really liked studying this play but reading it was a different ball game. It's a 4 star if you're studying it but a 2 star if you're reading it - I just can't get over the lack of characters, it's just something I need in books.

[Gabriel Weaver · Rating 5 out of 5]

I happened upon a copy of this text at a local Goodwill believe it or not.

This books joins a few others that I can point to and say "Well, there was my reading/writing life before and after [insert title]."

I had heard of Caryl Churchill, but had never read any of her works. I am so nervous to read more because the bar has been set so high, but I am excited due to all of the hype I've heard since more inquiry.

The best way I can describe this book is that it was like reading a Picasso or Pollock painting.