BWW Reviews: LOVE AND INFORMATION at The Basement Theatre

Love and Information by the acclaimed British playwright Caryl Churchill opened last night at the Basement Theatre on Queen Street in a very polished new production produced by The Actors' Program and Last Tapes Theatre Company. The tagline reads: Sixteen Actors. Over 100 Characters. A Snapshot of life. Perhaps rather the plural, snapshots might be a more accurate description of this unusual piece of epic theatre made up entirely of short vignettes, some of the more fleeting lasting only a few seconds.

This play has a very contemporary feel to it and is a look in close-up of modern life, dating and love in the internet and information age. The setting by Rachael Walker is minimalist, a white wall running the length of the theatre, punctuated by bands of vertical black lines, looking rather like a barcode in places. The audience sits very close to the action, the seating also stretched out across the length of the Basement -very effective for this play and exploiting the strengths of what can be a difficult venue. The programme notes from the director tell us that the script is divided into seven chapters, with each chapter containing seven scenes, except for the final chapter which has eight scenes. The chapters must be performed in order, but the order of the scenes within each is up to the particular production. Then there are scenes entitled "Depression" "Random" and "Silence" that can be inserted anywhere.

This is a strong ensemble cast, playing a wide range of different characters in different situations in a short space of time, where the moments have to be set up very quickly and with a clear sense of purpose and context. There is no narrative as such, and no recurring characters except for the character in "Depression" played sensitively by Chelsea Belle. Lighting changes designed by Rachel Marlow and music by composers Paul McLaney, Julia Deans and Jol Mulholland indicate when we are moving from scene to scene. Many different facets of the theme of 'information' are explored during the course of the evening, from DNA to memory, information you regret learning and wish you didn't know, memory failure, the voice of god, interpreting dreams, virtual people -until the ending where the onslaught and sheer volume of information renders it as essentially meaningless.

Churchill herself is known for her interest in the breaking down of theatrical norms, for instance, in her Blue Heart plays from 1997, during the course of Blue Kettle the language of the play itself gets infected by a virus where the words 'blue' and 'kettle' keep appearing more and more frequently in the dialogue until finally the only words spoken are 'blue' and 'kettle' and then just 'b' and 'k'. In 2010 she was officially added to the American Theatre Hall of Fame.

The Actors' Program is a relatively new acting course based in Auckland for stage and screen actors who want experience and training working with leading industry professionals. Love and Information is closely supported by Last Tapes Theatre Company (The Last Five Years, The Red Chair, Verbatim, Earnest, Fallout: The Sinking of the Rainbow Warrior) and The Basement Theatre, who also provide the students with discounted tickets to their season.

Love and Information is a thoroughly enjoyable and thought-provoking piece, humorous, perplexing, and moving. It is expertly written and current and we are lucky to see here an extremely talented group of actors under the excellent direction of Cameron Rhodes. While there may be no narrative as such, we definitely see a progression of ideas and it is left to us as the audience to connect the dots.

Love and Information is on from the 18th-21st of November at the Basement Theatre, Auckland.

Featuring:
Albertine Jonas
Anna Baird
Brie Hill
Cally Castell
Chelsea Belle
Dion Greenstreet
Emily Campbell
Evan Fenemor
Frank Borrell
Holly Hudson
James Russell
Joseph Nathan
Mel Odedra
Paul Trimmer
Ruby Lyon
Timmie Cameron

(Note: An earlier version of this review incorrectly attributed the role of 'Depression').

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