Page 270 - Guildhall Coverage Book 2020-21

desk and monitor is there, we don’t need to see them. I also really like the way the piano is created in
one of the scenes.

The actors do incredibly well, moving quickly from one scene to another and quickly setting the
scenes and establishing the characters and making us care about them. I don’t know exactly when
the different plays were filmed but many of the actors in Love and Information were seen in other
Guildhall plays very recently. If they are learning a lot of plays in quick succession and performing
them to this kind of standard, that is seriously impressive. If some were filmed earlier, it is still very
impressive. They have been given some very challenging plays which I’m sure a lot of professionals
would struggle with but the standard of the acting is consistently very high.

The issues I have with this play come completely from the writing. Caryl Churchill is a great writer, no
question. I didn’t know that before lockdown but having seen a number of her plays in the last year, I
know it now. But Love and Information has… well, too much information. Not in the colloquial sense
but the literal one. I really enjoyed the first half of the play. It was exciting seeing new scenes and new
characters but after a while, it was like my brain couldn’t take anymore. Maybe I’m just getting old but
after a while my brain couldn’t cope with resetting at the start of every new scene and getting to know
a new situation with a new group of characters. Maybe longer scenes or returns to previous
characters and situations would have worked better for me but I’m sure it is me, not the students.
They are brilliant.

Most of the play was livestreamed from a distance and the characters were dressed in very similar
clothes. This made it very difficult for me to know which actors were onstage at any one time and this
means it’s not possible to write a proper review where I pick out individual characters and
performances. I have seen most, if not all the ensemble before in other plays. I thought I recognised
some faces and voices and I definitely recognised some of the names in the programme but it has not
been possible to put names to faces.

Luckily there wasn’t a bad performance in the whole show so I can say truthfully that Aoife Gaston,
Caitlin Ffion Griffiths, Lily Hardy, Genevieve Lewis, Conor McLeod, Umi Myers, Felix Newman, Sonny
Pilgrem, Sam Thorpe-Spinks and Dolly Webb were all excellent in numerous challenging and varied
roles. But it does feel a bit of a cheat writing that. I wish I could have picked out individual
performances from each of them.

This is a very interesting play with some great performances and don’t let anything I’ve said about the
play put you off. It’s just one person’s opinion and we all get things wrong sometimes.