Page 274 - Guildhall Coverage Book 2020-21

P. 274

grapples with how ordinary people understand and process factual knowledge within the
intangible confines of their own lives.

Ghai’s production also notes an alignment with ideas of religion that recur throughout Love and
Information – in God’s Voice, one character as a pseudo-Moses tries to explain to his sceptical
friend how hearing can happen without a physical process but as a sensation of faith. Likewise
in God, Churchill presents a similar conversational set-up, one person describing the centrality of
religion as a guiding principle in their life, the other questioning the practicalities and meaning of
an overseeing God. And these segments also examine belief through other forms of pre-
determination such as the existence of fate and freewill.

Collectively the Guildhall company highlight these complex debates that absorbingly contend or
complement one another throughout Churchill’s play. This is a true ensemble piece, performed
by Aoife Gaston, Caitlin Ffion Griffiths, Lily Hardy, Genevieve Lewis, Conor McLeod, Umi Myers,
Felix Newman, Sonny Pilgrem, Sam Thorpe-Spinks and Dolly Webb who seamlessly perform at
least ten characters each, creating distinction between the scenarios and people with little steer
from the text while capturing the free-flowing significance of each section.

With two further shows planned including the live stream of Mr Burns: A Post-Electric Play later
this week, as venues reopen making space for the next generation of theatremakers is
increasingly important and Love and Information proves a challenging but vital showcase for
these final year students. This mini-season of plays is an important platform for them, and this
reorientation to online performance a timely decision by the Guildhall in an industry increasingly
embracing a hybrid model of theatre production and presentation.

Love and Information is available on demand from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama
until 19 May. Mr Burns: A Post-Electric Play is live-streamed from 20 May for free but pre-
registration is required. Follow this blog on Twitter @culturalcap1 or Facebook Cultural
Capital Theatre Blog.