Love and Information

Love and Information is a play written by the British playwright Caryl Churchill. It first opened at the Royal Court Theatre in September 2012. It received many positive reviews from critics.

The play is a compilation of seven sections each with a number of scenes that range from less than a minute in length to a few minutes long. The seven sections of the play must be done in order; however, the scenes/vignettes within each section can be done in whatever order the director wishes. The "random" section of scenes, included at the end of the play, are able to be incorporated anywhere within the play. The loose structure of the play and the wide range of casting options—nothing is specific in terms of casting—allows the director ample freedom to develop the storyline of the play along with the particular themes and questions they want to highlight with their production. Within the play are over 100 characters, but none of the characters are named and they can be double cast. After watching the play, writer Jennifer Wilkinson wrote, "The play asks us to consider how meaning is constructed and to participate in the process. The script has few stage directions, the characters are not gendered, the scenes can appear in a different order, and there are some random scenes which can be inserted anywhere in the play. This gives any director and company broad scope for creative input."

The original production of Love and Information was performed by the Royal Court Theatre. It was directed by James Macdonald. The run time of this play was about an hour and 40 minutes. Macdonald's "energetic production supplies much in the way of context, anchoring each episode in a particular place and creating a kind of social kaleidoscope in the process." In this production, Macdonald cast 16 actors to rotate around and play a large variety of characters throughout the play. The set was designed by Miriam Buether. She created a "clinical white-cube set, each piece [had] a slightly hallucinatory distinctness. Kristin Tillotson of the Minnesota Star Tribune wrote: "Caryl Churchill's sound-bite exploration of the modern state of human connections and the ever-increasing onslaught of knowledge both useless and profound has something for everyone, especially those with short attention spans. ... [this play] reminds us that no matter how many sophisticated modes of communicating with other flawed humans that we can access, we'll still manage to misconstrue, misconvey, then kiss and make up, just like always."

Macdonald also helmed a production at the Minetta Lane Theatre in New York City, presented as a co-production between New York Theatre Workshop and the Royal Court, from February 4 through April 6, 2014. The production, which included Noah Galvin, Maria Tucci, and James Waterston, was slightly "tweaked" in collaboration with its American cast.

Minneapolis-based Frank Theatre produced Love and Information January 30-February 22 of 2015. This production went on at the Ritz Theatre in Minneapolis, MN. The show was directed by Wendy Knox and featured Patrick Bailey, Virginia Burke, Joy Dolo, Kirby Bennett, Katherine Ferrand, Tessa Flynn, Emily Grodzik, Brianne Hill, Leif Jurgensen, Taous Khazem, Sam Pearson, Elohim Pena and Carl Schoenborn.

Malthouse Theatre and Sydney Theatre Company co-produced an Australian production which opened in Melbourne in June 2015 and toured to Sydney in July 2015. The show was directed by Kip Williams and featured an ensemble cast of Ursula Yovich, Anita Hegh, Alison Whyte, Zahra Newman, Marco Chiappi, Glenn Hazeldine, Anthony Taufa, and Harry Greenwood. The acclaimed production received two Green Room Awards nominations, four Sydney Theatre Awards Nominations, and a nomination for Williams for the Helpmann Award for Best Direction of a Play.

Lyric Theatre (Hammersmith) produced Love and Information on the 9 and 10 of August 2016. The show was directed by Sherrill Gow and performed by the Lyric Young Company.

Mohit Takalkar directed Caryl Churchill’s Love and Information for National Centre for the Performing Arts (India) in April 2024 with a cast of 13. The piece was played out in multiple languages like English, Hindi, Marathi, Hariyanvi and Gujarati.