Review: Love and Information at Theatre Works

Review by Greg Gorton

Belle Hansen is known for creating vibrant, chaotic productions by using creative interpretations, a multi-media focussed production technique, and (most importantly) creating teams of the best theatre creatives out there. Caryl Churchill’s Love and Information is difficult theatre to produce, but its own chaotic construction and open-to-interpretation style makes it perfect for the Hansen touch.

The design of Love and Information is beyond ambitious, almost grandiose in vision. On a relatively low budget, this image is made visible, even if that same budget means the seams are showing. 

Harry Gill’s set design is spectacular on paper. A proscenium arch claustrophobically close to the audience, a two-tiered stage behind it, with the top including a large rotating stage with a number of changing sets. A quite spectacular visual feast, though it does ask the age-old question - do I let my budget stymie my creative vision? There’s something to be said for brave creatives doing everything they possibly could, but also those who work within their means to produce something more polished.

Sidney Younger’s lighting design is brilliantly constructed, helping create new worlds for each scene of the play, and adding to the creatively-intended chaos. Likewise, the costume design allows for relatively quick changes which, along with superb actors, all for the creation of a character list of over one hundred unique people.

The sound design and composition is by Jack Burmeister, and it might be the most memorable aspect of the show. The two hour production is scored the entire way through, with additional sound design and effects used to great effect. Of course, this does then require actors to be mic’ed which, in my opinion, is always to the detriment of the actual performance - the actors communicating as clearly with the audience as they can.

All in all, we have a show that goes well beyond other Theatre Works productions in terms of what is possible but, in doing so, unavoidably presents all the rough edges that occur when you refuse to compromise your vision in the name of practicality.

The cast of Love and Information is surprisingly small - only eight performers who play a wide range of characters. Most of the time there is success to be found, with Junghwi Jo standing out as particularly chameleon-like in producing characters of all ages, experiences, and passions. The ensemble have an incredible energy, and rarely get long to catch their breath before offering up a new performance, but are always on their mark.

Unfortunately (and this is one of the challenges of the script), there are rarely any moments where two actors can produce any real chemistry with each other. More importantly, the actors are always out of beat, with many missed cues, written interruptions ignored, and choreographed moments out of sync. It must be impossible to successfully pull these things off in a show like this, but perhaps these aspects should have been a greater focus than clever transitional moments.

Love and Information is an incredible script. Scenes can range from two lines to three minutes long, and there are dozens of them. They don’t require being played in particular order, and productions can mess with how many characters are involved. Most importantly, in Churchill’s clever hands, many of the scenes are opaque enough that you can produce vastly different meanings and narratives from them. This means you can see two different productions and yet barely recognise they are from the same script.

Hansen makes bold choices with Love and Information, and some of the scenes will be quite memorable for time to come. This production works hard to ensure every chance for comedy is found. There is an element of soap opera in some scenes, while others are farcical. There are scenes in Churchill’s script, however, that cannot be taken as anything but seriously. Hansen wasn’t able to fully strike a balance between this humour and the tragedy, and there were missed opportunities to hit heartstrings, instead of  just funny bones.

Love and Information isn’t dozens of scenes in a single play, it is dozens of short plays with a core theme. So the most difficult part of the show is how to rehearse each one equally. How do you convince a creative team to treat each moment with the same full sincerity and importance? What happens if individual creatives are more excited by one “play” than another? And what does that then do to the audience?

When I see Belle Hansen attached to a production, I know it is going to be bold and ambitious. While this desire to chase complex creative experiences can lead to shows that seem not yet ready to go on stage, it also reminds us that theatre should always strive for originality. Love and Information has rough edges, yes, but only because it has a vision few attempt to make come to life.

Image Supplied