Love and Information at Theatre Works - 105 minutes

My approach to reviewing is to enter a theatre, cinema or gallery knowing nothing about what I am about to see and hear.

That means not reading a synopsis or any commentary about the work because I believe it needs to inform me or “speak to me” on its own merits.

Ninety-nine times out of a 100 that works, regardless of whether I love or loathe the offering or if it falls somewhere in between those polar opposites.

Photos by Steven Mitchell Wright

I wish I had broken my golden rule for lauded British playwright Caryl Churchill’s Love and Information.

Why, you may well ask? Because having just sat through the 105 minutes that the piece entails, I was left mighty confused.

In short, it involves more than 50 disconnected short scenes and upwards of 100 characters. Some of the vignettes last but seconds and others a few minutes.

I feel “thick” for saying this, but I couldn’t make head nor tail of it.

That had nothing to do with the acting from the eight strong cast, which was solid across the board throughout.

In the scenes, the characters expressed love, frustration and anger.

Much of it was, to me, theatre of the absurd.

Elements of it were very funny, notably when two people – a man and a woman – tried to interpret the meaning of a painting.

We, the audience, never get to see the painting. Rather, just the back of an easel and the rear of the canvas sitting on it.

Our focus is on the expressions and movements of the couple examining the work. It is undoubtedly clever theatre.

While the lady and gent are doing their “thing”, a life-size blow-up dinosaur, carrying a knitted vest and shoes, enters. What the?

Then there is the young man who vociferously argues with a young woman. He maintains that he can love and have a real relationship with an attractive AI creation.

A researcher appals all but one of her students by talking about radioactive chickens.

A gay man reluctant to reveal a secret does so anyway.

Or how about a man who sits staring at a snail (which we don’t see), who is joined by another man who asks him what he is doing?

There is a spot on irrational numbers, a query on the language and accent with which God communicates and dealing with death for the first time.

I have simply chosen these snippets at random to give you an idea of what you are in for if you choose to see Love and Information.

Using a video backdrop and a revolving elevated stage, Love and Information is about the complexities of human connection in the digital age.

First performed at the Royal Court Theatre in London in September 2012, while I admire the artistry and creativity, I found it far too long and far too esoteric.  

It is playing at Theatre Works until 14th June, 2025.