2021
“Thought-churning, deeply poignant new play.” -New York Times
“…it is what theatre ought to be. Everything in Love and Information has energy, imagination, and theatrical muscle.” – Daily Review
A Company Link with Theatre Incarnate Presented
Love and Information
by Caryl Churchill
August 19th-22nd, 2021, 7:30 pm nightly online
Running Time: 75 minutes
This play was presented as an online digital presentation. Featuring 7 chapters and 7 solos in an experimental theatre and dance movement style, with Churchill’s thought churning text underscoring the performance.
Caryl Churchill is one of the world’s foremost living playwrights. Churchill uses her signature wit and profound intuition to capture a kaleidoscope of human connections in Love and Information.
Churchill’s exhilarating play addresses contemporary issues about knowledge, technology and communication, and our capacity for love.
CO-DIRECTED/CO-CHOREOGRAPHED
Ali Robson and Brenda McLean
PERFORMERS
Alexandra Elliott
Anaïs Bossé
Brittany Thiessen
Eric Blais
Ray Strachan
Victoria Hill
Warren McClelland
VOICE-OVER SCRIPT PERFORMERS
Anna Bevan
Johnathon Bevan
Eric Bossé
David Breckman
Susan Finnigan
Duncan McGregor
Christopher Sobczak
Saira Rahman
Susan Smiel
Collin Wynter
with Performers and Co-Directors
AUDIO RECORDING AND LIGHTING
Eric Bossé
SOUND AND VIDEO
Brenda McLean
ORIGINAL MUSIC, COMPOSED AND PERFORMED
Stacie McGregor / Traces of Yesterday
“Love and Information” is presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals on behalf of Samuel French, Inc. www.concordtheatricals.com
LOVE AND INFORMATION was first presented by The English Stage Company at The Royal Court Theatre in the Jerwood Theatre Downstairs, London, England on 6 September 2012. The US premier was presented at New York Theatre Workshop, New York on 19 February 2014, directed by James McDonald.
This project is generously supported by The Manitoba Arts Council.
SHOW BACKGROUND
“Love and Information” by Caryl Churchill is a play that takes time, has spanned time, and in many ways is timeless. Through this process, Brenda McLean and Ali Robson, have collaborated to better understand this poignant work and apply their areas of expertise, theatre, and dance, to find a way to situate this story, theatrically and personally.
With the support of a Young Lungs Dance Exchange Research Series Residency in 2016, Brenda and performer Brittany Thiessen researched gestural movement vocabulary and contact improvisation in relation to various scriptural material. Ali worked as their rehearsal director to help flush out textural subtext or connective tissue in relation to movement.
Following this initial research period, Ali had a baby and Brenda continued to research and build a movement vocabulary with Brittany Thiessen and performer Alexandra Elliott. In 2018, with the support of the Winnipeg Arts Council and the Winnipeg Foundation, Company Link researched, rehearsed, and presented a workshop showing of this play. Brenda and Ali worked as co-directors and choreographers, engaged six performers, sound designer Leigh Anne Parry, and worked with artistic consultant Tom Stroud. The performers were Brittany Thiessen, Alexandra Elliott, Warren McClelland, Ray Strachan, Eric Blais, and Victoria Hill. It was a monumental task to try and bring this play together, lots of love, lots of information, and there was still much work to do.
Without needing mention, the plan to present this work has been postponed a few times now. Needing to proceed with this project during the pandemic shifted the production plan and it was decided to record the whole play. Brenda invited her acting class participants to record the scenes and family members and friends contributed as well. A ton of work and LOVE has been put into this play and everyone is eager to present it this summer.
Of equal interest to the content of the play was the way in which Brenda and Ali found to collaborate at the research stage of this project. This level of engagement and challenge redefined genre and the length of time that was contributed to this project has informed a deeper connection to the play, to the amazing performers involved, and to the wide range of topics and emotions that “Love and Information” evokes. The final presentation of this journey will take place online from August 19th-22nd, 2021. It will be performed by Brittany Thiessen, Alexandra Elliott, Warren McClelland, Ray Strachan, Eric Blais, Victoria Hill, and Anaïs Bossé, co-directed and co-choreographed by Brenda McLean and Ali Robson and supported technically by Eric Bossé.