Love and Information

By Caryl Churchill Directed by Pooja Ghai

Thursday 29 April, 7.30pm Friday 30 April, 2pm & 7.30pm Saturday 1 May, 7.30pm

Guildhall School of Music & DramaFounded in 1880 by the City of London Corporation

Chairman of the Board of GovernorsVivienne Littlechild

PrincipalLynne Williams

Vice-Principal & Director of Drama Orla O’Loughlin

Vice-Principal & Director of Production ArtsAndy Lavender

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Photographs of the final year acting company are by: Dave Buttle (Charlie Beck, Lily Hardy, Isla Lee, Noah Marullo, Umi Myers, Felix Newman, Jidé Okunola, Sonny Pilgrem, Alyth Ross, Dan Wolff), Robert Harper (Kitty Hawthorne), Harry Livingstone (Nia Towle), Wolf Marloh (Zachary Nachbar-Seckel), Clare Park (Grace Cooper Milton), Phil Sharp (Genevieve Lewis, Sam Thorpe-Spinks), Michael Shelford (Levi Brown, Sheyi Cole, Aoife Gaston, Brandon Grace, Conor McLeod, Hassan Najib, Millie Smith, Tara Tijani, Dolly Webb), David Stone (Justice Ritchie), Faye Thomas (Caitlin Ffion Griffiths), YellowBelly (Hope Kenna)

Love and InformationBy Caryl Churchill

Pooja Ghai directorRosa Maggiora designerDiane Alison-Mitchell movement directorAndy Taylor composerSam Levy lighting designerMaisie Roberts sound designer

Thursday 29, Friday 30 April and Saturday 1 May 2021

Live performances broadcast from Silk Street Theatre

Recording of this performance by any means whatsoever is strictly prohibited.

Please note this production contains strong language and adult themes.

Love and Information is a curious mixture.

At the end of March 2020 YouGov, the significant but not infallible data analytics firm, asked a question of the British public. The question was:

Would you say over the past two weeks that you have spoken to your loved ones more or less than usual, or about the same?

58% of over 3,000 adults in the UK said they spoke to loved ones about the same amount as they usually would. The split between the other two major groups is startling; 36% of adults said they spoke to their loved ones more and only 3% said they spoke to them less.

This is sort of understandable – lockdown was looming, the proliferation of information about COVID-19 was reaching fever pitch and public belief in the health service was beginning to waver.

What is notable about this survey is that it shows love and information are more entwined than ever before in human history. This year the majority of us have had to live in a world where information and technology have changed all our lives in the most tangible way imaginable. Lockdowns have been put in place across the world and left us reliant on a small black box that lives in our pockets to connect with others.

Caryl Churchill’s play premiered in 2012. Though I am not completely down with Caryl’s writing process, one can safely imagine that the play began its life sometime around 2010. Its prescience is a curious thing and showcases the depth of

Churchill’s thoughts even at a time when this subject was in its infancy.

The play encourages us to see the world from a plethora of angles and perspectives. The scenes are so varied yet so pointed, so general yet so universal, it churns your brain thinking about the construction of it as a cohesive whole. And yet that whole does exist. This is the genius of Caryl Churchill. You can love it, you can hate it, you can grapple with it for years or you can consume it and leave it behind – whatever you do with Love and Information, it will make an impact of some type. Just a quick Google of the play is enough to give you an aneurysm if you try to engage with the myriad of different opinions on it from critics and audiences the world over:

The Socialist review said of the original production:

“The play asks us to consider how meaning is constructed and to participate in the process.”

I mean – what!? That’s no small feat for a night out at the theatre.

A Chicago critic was less contemplative about a revival in 2019 and said, derisively:

“If you have formal artistic training, at some point, you were probably in a class in which you were instructed to write a scene in a minute. Then, to make sure everybody did the assignment, the students all read their scenes out loud, and learning happened. With the help of professional production values from Remy Bumppo, that’s basically what Caryl Churchill’s 2012 play Love and Information is.”

The Play

Where as a Los Angeles critic reached for the thesaurus when reviewing the play:

“Churchill is curious about what this informational freight is doing to us.”

This plethora (the thesaurus has clearly got to me) of opinions is what makes Love and Information unique. It is difficult to think of another living writer who can inspire so many different opinions and divide audiences so sharply, so easily, so artfully.

Churchill and her subjects, in miniature scenes and vignettes, manage to plough the public consciousness so effectively that it’s easy to see why she stands alone as the UK’s greatest living playwright.

To return to the YouGov survey, I’d like to pose the same question to you, the audience, just as the play does. Do you think you have spoken to your loved ones more or less over this past year? Has technology brought us together or has it driven us apart? I’d suggest that love and information had a boom year in 2020 which is all set to continue in 2021.

Programme Notes by Andy McNamee

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Caryl Churchill’s plays include: Owners; Light Shining in Buckinghamshire; Traps; Cloud Nine; Top Girls; Fen; Serious Money; Ice Cream; Mad Forest; The Skriker; Blue Hart; This is a Chair; Far Away; A Number; A Dream Play; Drunk Enough to Say I Love You?; Seven Jewish Children; Love and Information; Here We Go; Pigs and Dogs; Escaped Alone; Glass.Kilss.Bluebeard.Imp. Music theatre includes: Lives of the Great Poisoners and Hotel, both with Orlando Gough. Caryl has also written for radio and television.

Caryl Churchill playwright

Photo by Marc Brenner

Ensemble

Aoife Gaston Caitlin Ffion Griffiths Lily Hardy Genevieve LewisConor McLeod Umi MyersFelix Newman Sonny Pilgrem Sam Thorpe-Spinks Dolly Webb

A listing of CVs for Guildhall School Final Year Actors may be viewed on the School’s website: gsmd.ac.uk/finalyearactors

Final year actors 2020/21

Charlie Beck

Brandon Grace

Isla Lee

Levi Brown

Caitlin Ffion Griffiths

Genevieve Lewis

Sheyi Cole

Lily Hardy

Conor McLeod

Grace Cooper Milton

Kitty Hawthorne

Umi Myers

Aoife Gaston

Hope Kenna

Noah Marullo

Zachary Nachbar-Seckel

Hassan Najib

Justice Ritchie

Nia Towle

Felix Newman

Alyth Ross

Dolly Webb

Jidé Okunola

Millie Smith

Dan Wolff

Sonny Pilgrem

Sam Thorpe-Spinks

Tara Tijani

Costume SupervisorTara Boland

Wardrobe ManagerLucy Lawless

Costume AssistantsLucy LawlessImogen Leather

Production Electrician Joshua Collins

Production Sound Electrician AssistantNatalya Scase

Lighting ProgrammerGuy Knox-Holmes

Production ManagerWill Darby

Technical ManagerAled Roberts

Production AssistantDarcey Robinson

Production Sound EngineerThomas Dixon

Sound OperatorMary Deakes

Deputy Stage ManagerOphir Westman

ASM Book CoverKate Buxton

Assistant Stage ManagersRoss CarmichaelEmily Nellis

Additional Production Staff

Staff Stage ManagerLuke Mason

Staff Stage Management SupervisorLizzie Donaghy

Staff Production ManagerBob Holmes

Production Team

A listing of CVs for Guildhall School Final Year Production Arts students may be viewed on the School’s website: gsmd.ac.uk/finalyearPA

The School thanks the following for their contribution to this production

Katherine Verberne (ASM cover)

Ros Chase, Ashe DeWaal, Hayden Gurney, Ethan Howlett, Rylee McDaniel, Ben Mills, Stanley Olden, Ben Tinniswood (lighting crew)

Guildhall Schoolis provided by the City of London Corporation

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Pooja Ghai director

Pooja was the Associate Director of Theatre Royal Stratford East from 2015 to 2018. In 2018 she won the Eastern Eye award for Best Director for Lions and Tigers at Shakespeare’s Globe.

Theatre: Approaching Empty (Tamasha Theatre); Creative Producer Hobsons Choice (Royal Exchange); Lions and Tigers (Shakespeare’s Globe, Sam Wanamaker Playhouse); Blue Stockings (East 15); Rapunzel, Counting Stars, The House of In Between (Theatre Royal Stratford East); The Empress (Embassy Theatre); The Accordion Shop (Leicester Curve/Warwick Arts Centre); As You Like It (Ellen Terry Theatre); 13 (Corbett Theatre); The Difference (Rich Mix/Soho Theatre); Bobby & Gina (Pavilion); Female of the Species (Global Café); Top Girls (Edinburgh Fringe Festival); Metamorphosis (Burton-Taylor Theatre & Edinburgh Fringe Festival); Getting On (Burton-Taylor Theatre Studio).

Dance: dramaturg for Wayne Parsons’ Meeting (The Place); A Vestige (Wilton’s Music Hall/UK Tour).

Biographies

Rosa Maggiora designer

Theatre Includes: Zorro the musical (Hopemill Theatre); Hobson’s Choice (Royal Exchange); Approaching Empty (Kiln Theatre); Lions & Tigers (The Sam Wanamaker Festival/Shakespeare’s Globe); Nina, A story about me & Nina Simone (Young Vic/Traverse/Edinburgh Festival/Unity Theatre/Liverpool/Rikstearten/Stadstearten Stockholm and Swedish Tour/UK Tour); The Bubbly Black Girl Sheds Her Chameleon Skin (Theatre Royal Stratford East/Belgrade Theatre); The Wiz (Birmingham Rep/West Yorkshire Playhouse); Starstruck, Not Black & White, Women, Power & Politics, Stones In His Pockets (Tricycle Theatre); A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Almeida/Edinburgh Festival); Freeoutgoing (Royal Court/Edinburgh Festival); The Penelopiad (The Swan Royal Shakespeare Company/National Arts Theatre, Canada); Anansi & the Magic Mirror (Hackney Empire); Mother Courage (Nottingham Playhouse/UK Tour/Hackney Empire); Everyman (Royal Shakespeare Company/USA Tour); A River Sutra (Three Mills Island Studios); Shakuntala (Gate Theatre); Making The Future (Oxford Stage Company/Young Vic); Easter (Royal Shakespeare Company/Barbican); No Boys Cricket Club & Party Girls (Theatre Royal Stratford East); Happy Days (Glasgow Citizens Theatre).

Dance and Opera Include Awakening and Another America: Fire (Sadler’s Wells).

Andy Taylor composer

Andy graduated with a Music degree from Huddersfield University in 1990 where he spent far too much time playing with the sound-studio technology in between practising the piano and composing. He then worked in various music recording studios (including CTS, Lansdowne, Strongroom, Whitfield Street and Abbey Road) recording a variety of film and TV scores with composers such as Hans Zimmer, Trevor Jones and Alan Silvestri; and albums with artists such as Stan Tracey, Tina May, Anthony Newley and Shirley Bassey.

To see the sun again Andy moved into teaching, initially at Amersham and Wycombe College, then at Kingston College, where he taught Sound and Music (Technology/Performance/Composition) to students principally on the Theatre Production Arts, Media, Music Technology and Music Performance courses. He completed a PGCE in 1999 and an MA (Audio Technology) in 2007.

Andy is now Head of Theatre Technology and Programme Leader for BA (Hons) Video Design for Live Performance at Guildhall School. Recent Sound Designs/Compositions at Guildhall School have included The Hour We Knew Nothing of Each Other (dir. Sue Lefton); Machinal (dir. Edward Dick); Great Expectations (dir. Christian Burgess); Gut (dir. Kate Budgen); Magna Carta and Shakespeare 400, the latter of which were video projection mapping productions at Guildhall in association with the BA (Hons) Video Design for Live Performance programme.

Diane Alison-Mitchell movement director

Diane Alison-Mitchell is a movement director, theatre choreographer and actor movement tutor who trained at Royal Central School of Speech and Drama. She is Head of Movement at Guildhall School of Music & Drama, co-founder/leader of the Movement Directors’ Association (MDA), and Visiting Lecturer and Personal Academic Tutor on the MA Movement: Directing and Teaching at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama. She has also taught movement at Italia Conti Academy, E15 Acting School, Regents University, Royal Holloway and was previously Director of the Foundation Acting course at ALRA South. She was part of the creative team for the London 2012 Olympic Opening Ceremony.

Recent theatre credits include When The Crows Visit, Wife, Holy Sh!t (Kiln Theatre); A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Criterion Theatre); Shuck ‘n’ Jive (Soho Theatre); Our Lady of Kibeho (Royal & Derngate/Theatre Royal Stratford East); The Hoes (Hampstead Theatre); Snow White and the Happy Ever After Salon (Ovalhouse/Plymouth Theatre Royal); Never Vera Blue, Offside (Futures Theatre); The Island (Theatre Chipping Norton/Dukes Lancaster); Roundelay, Klippies (Southwark Playhouse); They Drink It In The Congo (Almeida Theatre); SOUL (Royal & Derngate/Hackney Empire); Othello, Julius Caesar (RSC); The Emperor Jones (LOST Theatre); How Nigeria Became: A story, and a spear that didn’t work (Unicorn Theatre).

Sam Levy lighting designer

Sam is currently in his third year of the BA (Hons) Technical Theatre Arts (Theatre Technology) programme at Guildhall School.

Lighting credits include: Lighting Programmer Antigone (dir. Orla O’Loughlin); Lighting Programmer Tortoise (Bunker Theatre – NYT); Followspot Operator Snow White (London Palladium).

Other Guildhall credits include: Sound Designer Pod (dir. Jamie Bradley and Vicki Igbokwe); Production Sound Engineer Guildhall Live Events; Sound Engineer Opera Makers 2020 (dir. John Ramster); Notch Programmer Opera Double Bill (dir. Olivia Fuchs); Assistant Stage Manager Earthquakes in London (dir. Abigail Graham); Production Sound Engineer Provok’d: A Restoration (dir. Jamie Bradley & Vicki Igbokwe); Production Assistant Red Velvet (dir. Wyn Jones).

Other Professional credits include: Vault Lates (Vault Festival 2020); Grandpa’s Great Escape (Arena Tour); Rugby X (O2 Arena); Edinburgh Fringe (Pleasance); Cricket World Cup Opening Ceremony 2019; MiSST Concerts (London Palladium, Cadogan Hall); Beautiful Thing (Greenwich + Docklands International Festival).

Maisie Roberts sound designer

Maisie is currently in her third year of the BA (Hons) Technical Theatre Arts (Theatre Technology) programme at Guildhall School.

Sound credits include: Sound Assistant Summer Opera Makers 2020 (dir. John Ramster); Sound Operator and Mixer Earthquakes in London (dir. Abigail Graham).

Other Guildhall credits include: Production Manager Pod (dir. Jamie Bradley and Vicki Igbokwe); Video Assistant Earthquakes in London (dir. Abigail Graham); Video Assistant The Angel Esmeralda (dir. Martin Lloyd-Evans); Video Assistant Gut (dir. Kate Budgen); Lighting Programmer Dido and Aeneas and La Bella Dormente Nel Bosco (dir. Olivia Fuchs); Production Assistant Autumn Opera Scenes 2019 (dir. Martin Lloyd-Evans); Production Assistant La fedeltá premiata (dir. Stephen Barlow).

Other Professional credits include: Sound Assistant for Leanne La Havas with BBC Symphony Orchestra (Barbican Concert Hall); Freelance Lighting Technician (Hampstead Theatre); Venue Crew at The Cellar, Edinburgh Fringe Festival; Sound Technician All Aboard! At Termination Station (dir. Lily Burton); The Tea House & Bread and Roses Pub Theatre (Clapham Fringe); Lighting Designer Terra/Earth (dir. Sarah Stephenson), National Theatre Connections, Nottingham Playhouse; Sound No.2/ASM Madagascar the Musical (dir. Leah Scott), Theatricool Performing Arts (Mercury Theatre); Sound and Lighting Technician Tubular Bells Live (Mercury Theatre).

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Guildhall School Scholarships Fund

Acting

Guildhall Scholars Sheyi ColeCaitlin Ffion Griffiths

Lily Hardy*Hope KennaIsla LeeHassan NajibJidé OkunolaAlyth RossSam Thorpe-SpinksTara TijaniDolly Webb**

The Damian Lewis Finishing Fund ScholarJustice Ritchie

City of London ScholarsGrace Cooper MiltonAoife GastonNia Towle

Noel Coward Foundation ScholarCharlie Beck

Rigler-Ollerton ScholarConor McLeod

The Bess Jones and Leigh Hudson Award HolderBrandon Grace

The Nicky Bird ScholarLevi Brown

The Stanley Picker Trust ScholarFelix Newman***

*also supported directly by The Lilian Baylis Award

**also supported directly by Sophie’s Silver Lining Trust

***also supported directly by The Sir John Gielgud Charitable Trust

Production Arts

Guildhall Scholars Laura Alexander-Smith

Molly Barron Georgie BottoneRos ChaseEve Clayton Joshua CollinsKyra CoppiniRyan DaviesMary DeakesJack Garner-Greene Bradley Halliwell Olivia Hilton-Foster Holly HooperMiriam Houghton Edward Jackson Devon James-Bowen Sammy LaceySamantha Liquorish Kerry LoosemoreEilidh Mackenzie Rylee McDaniel Livvy MeeksStanley Olden Sophie Presswell

Benedict Rattray Maisie Roberts Rosie RobertsDaniel Robinson Natalya Scase Matthew ServantMatt ShragaEma Soares Da Cunha

Andrea Støier Andersen

Allegra Totaro-Wainwright

Qian Yan TanKatherine VerberneOphir Westman Adam Woodhouse

City of London ScholarsSophie BramleyReuben CohenDani DiegoSam Levy

Leathersellers’ ScholarKate Stockwell

Each year the Scholarships Fund enables talented young actors, production artists, musicians and theatre technicians to take up their places or continue their studies at Guildhall School. We are extremely grateful to many trusts, foundations, businesses, City livery companies and individuals who make annual donations to the Scholarships Fund, and to those people who make provision for legacy donations in support of the School in their wills. Students involved with our 2020/21 theatre productions who have received support from the Scholarships Fund and from external donors are as follows:

Tallow Chandlers’ ScholarFinlay Anderson

Skinners’ Lawrence Atwell ScholarFiona Newton

B&T ScholarsTara BolandCharlie Vince-Crowhurst

Leverhulme Arts ScholarsSamuel DawsonEm Dethick-JonesPoppy HarnettAmy HillEmma HorneViktor MileikaEmily NellisPete ReaveyJack StevensNaomi Wright

The Vanstone ScholarTakiyah Campbell

The Steel Charitable Trust ScholarMonika Zwierzchowska

Carpenters’ Company Production Arts ScholarshipEmylly Ombok

The Salters Production Arts Award HolderAbu Mensah

The Jane Ades Ingenuity ScholarRin Akiyama

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