Eighteen actors play more than a hundred characters in 61 scenes. Gangsters interrogate grasses; creepy old women tell stories to children; an old pianist remembers meeting his wife; and the actors become stars in a constellation, wrapped in fairy-lights.
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Experimental theatre is coming to Armidale.
The UNE Theatre Group is producing Love and Information, British playwright Caryl Churchill's 2012 play, which has received rave reviews in the US and the UK.
There’s original song, dance numbers, fight sequences, comedy, Absurdism, and drama – “everything and the kitchen sink!” director Richard Jordan said.
“Come prepared for an experience that perhaps you’ve never had before in the theatre – that I can promise you!”
The play runs from October 3 to 6, at the UNE A1 Arts Theatre. Seating is limited, so book now.
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The play is described as “a mosaic of human consciousness”, about the search for human intimacy, love, and connection.
"Ultimately,” Richard said, “it’s about people trying to make sense of what reality looks like in an artificial world, looking for connections with people.
“In a digital age, what happens to our identity, our sense of self, or our sense of being or belonging in the world? The characters in all of those scenes are trying to understand each other, trying to understand the situation that they happen to be in.”
The production breaks many of the rules of traditional theatre. The actors change into costumes in front of the audience (post-apocalyptic designs by Isobel Tarte), and bring props on stage, while the ropes and pulleys are visible.
“We’re making the most of the space,” Richard said. “We’re trying to reveal artifice.”
The audience comes backstage as part of that process. For the first 10 minutes, they are led through different parts of the building, where small scenes happen around them: immersive theatre.
“This is a play about that vague line between reality and simulation which we live in now – what is real, what is artificial, and so we reveal all of that,” Richard said.
Playwright Churchill leaves it to each production team to choose the order of the scenes and to determine the context, the location, the relation between the characters, and who says what line. No one production of the play will be the same.
“It’s such an open, open text!” Richard said.
The cast has accepted the challenge with aplomb. They spent the first few weeks workshopping scenes, creating scenarios and characters.
"It's interesting to be able to take a base character that we didn't even know a background for, and then create a character, and do it six, ten times!” actress Rose Roberts said.
“We all had different collaborative efforts for each of the scenes, and so all of our ideas got put into one thing and just mooshed together."
“It's a unique experience,” actor Jesse said. “This is like being at a sketch show with 61 different examples of humanity.”
Love & Information, by Caryl Churchill, directed by Richard Jordan, runs from 3 – 6 October, A1 Arts Theatre at UNE. $10 UNE students – $15 concessions – $20 adults. Book: www.trybooking.com/YHSK