Interview: Philip Hays Talks Directing LOVE AND INFORMATION at Main Street Theater

This February, after exploring TWELFTH NIGHT's love and marriage and VENUS IN FUR's bondage and masochism, Main Street Theater mounts LOVE AND INFORMATION, Caryl Churchill's play-or, more accurately, compilation of little plays exploring the role of technology in contemporary relationships.

But unlike William Shakespeare's TWELFTH NIGHT and David Ives VENUS IN FUR, LOVE AND INFORMATION is hard to pin down. Churchill's kaleidoscopic play usually features over 100 characters in 57 vignettes in under two hours. (Main Street Theater will challenge convention even more than the play by including several optional vignettes, increasing the scene count to 70.)

In his discussion with BroadwayWorld.com, Director Philip Hays brings a little bit of clarity and insight to this incisive yet, by all accounts, disarming piece of theater.

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Much has been written about the unique structure of LOVE AND INFORMATION. I'm curious as to why the structure exists. What does it illuminate?

With the vignette structure, Churchill covers a remarkable breadth and variety of human experience in the play, and although many other plays effectively explore a part of that experience, very few aim to tackle it in so many forms, so extensively. The scenes are examples of how our lives are lived, particularly with respect to either of the titular concepts of love and information: what does it feel like and what do we do when we have it, when we lack it, when we have to convey it to someone else, when we remember it, when it overwhelms us, et cetera. I don't think the play could span so many permutations without this structure.

How does the play speak to you?

My first reaction upon reading the play was one of awe. The play is like a gem, and each scene is a facet, revealing a new angle to the subject at its heart, people. That's pretty special. It's also an incredible challenge; a sort of puzzle to figure out, and I really enjoy that aspect, too.

There are over 100 characters in LOVE AND INFORMATION. What will be the size of the Main Street Theater's LOVE AND INFORMATION cast?

We're gonna do it all with 13.

How do you portray so many characters on the stage, in under 2 hours, well? How would you describe them to me, right now? Is it even possible to do so?

At this point in the process, the scenes speak to me less as individual characters and more a series of relationships and situations. I'm sure once we get the actors involved, the personalities and quirks of each one will start to reveal themselves. I can also say that all the characters in the play are real people, just like you and me, and the situations they find themselves in are likely to be recognizable to everyone.

Where are you all in the production process?

We're in preproduction right now, finalizing the set, and I'm working on scene assignments and plotting traffic patterns.

The play is made up of 57 short scenes, ranging from 5 seconds to 5 minutes. This could be jolting (for the audience), don't you think? Or am I wrong?

(Actually, the way things look now, we very well might be pushing closer to seventy scenes. Churchill has written a number of optional scenes to be included at our discretion, and I'm hoping to work many of them into the performance.) I expect the audience will be a little disoriented at first. There is a jolt in the discovery that the rules of this play aren't like other plays you may have experienced. But there are rules, and I hope once those are established, the audience can enjoy "the ride" of the play, as it were. The trick for us is to make each scene specific and compelling, There is a tension in the experience of the play between the desire to stick with one moment and see where it goes and the inevitable draw to see what's next. Whether the audience enjoys that tension, I can't say, but it's certainly something you don't often experience in other pieces.

In addition to the large number of scenes, some as quick as a sneeze, the characters don't enter or exit in the scenes, correct? How will you accommodate this and the other unique elements of the production on the Main Street Theater stage?

Correct. There are very few entrances and exits; the scenes are often discovered in medias res, a conversation already in progress. Quick, smooth, choreographed transitions will be crucial to maintain momentum.

Does the Main Street Theater stage offer any advantages?

Main Street is a great venue for this piece. Even after the wonderful new renovations to the space, Main Street Theater remains intimate enough to permit the audience to encounter the various human moments of the play in a close-up way. But the changes have opened up the space in new ways, and we'll be taking advantage of that. We can reconfigure the seating, and create an environment in which this play specifically can happen. We'll also be creating architectural lighting effects that fully take advantage of the new height in the space in order to differentiate and "bracket" each scene.

What are the conversations you're having with your cast, crew, and designers?

We talk a lot about the world of the play, which is not necessarily the world of the scenes. The scenes all seem to take place in our real world, although for convenience we have to reduce their costume/set/props needs to only the most salient details. But the world of the play is more like a giant kaleidoscope or snow globe, a contraption which, when manipulated, reveals some new aspect inside. It's almost as if aliens were flipping channels through the bandwidth of humanity, trying to figure out what to watch.

Ben Brantley, New York Times Chief Theater Critic, said LOVE AND INFORMATION is Churchill's most accessible and sentimental play. How does his observation strike you? I found it odd.

I think the great challenge of this play is to achieve those two very things. The individual scenes, the building blocks of the play, are very accessible, and keenly felt. Yes, the nature of the play is surreal and overwhelming, but the little pieces that it's made up of are emotional, small, familiar ones. My objective is not to alienate, but envelop the audience. When I'm talking about the play, it sounds like some massive intellectual exercise, but I'm not sure it's meant to be experienced that way. Information is clinical, intellectual, a little cold, but there's love in with the information and, as Brantley also said, in the title, "love comes first."

LOVE AND INFORMATION. Previews are Feb 10 - 12 at 7:30 pm. Performances are Feb 13 - Mar 6 on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays at 7:30 pm and Sundays at 3 pm. Main Street Theater at Rice Village, 2540 Times Blvd. For more information, visit mainstreettheater.com.

Photo courtesy of Main Street Theater

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