Stage Door News
Stage Door News
Once again demonstrating Canadian Stage’s long-standing commitment to nurturing the growth of Canadian artists, the company is proud to present recent Canadian Stage-York MFA graduate directors Tanja Jacobs and Alistair Newton’s production of Caryl Churchill’s acclaimed comedy-drama, Love and Information. Onstage at the Berkeley Street Theatre from April 10 – 29, this production is presented in partnership with York University’s MFA in Directing program.
Hailed as one of England's greatest living playwrights, Caryl Churchill has energized audiences for over four decades with her thought-provoking, gender-bending, controversial work as a playwright. Told through a theatrically-adventurous medley of short vignettes, Love and Information features an ensemble of actors performing over 100 roles. With an intellectual vigour and dazzling instinct for the absurd, Churchill confronts the data overload that bombards us every day, painting an instantly recognizable portrait of modern human connection and disconnection.
Called the “greatest playwright alive” by The New Yorker and a “national treasure” by The Guardian, Churchill’s plays have often been lauded for their complex plot structures and multiple perspectives on history and gender roles. Love and Information marks a profound engagement by Churchill with contemporary information technology and the immense stress and discombobulation it causes in contemporary life. In an effort to convey the frenetic pace of the information society, the play is structured as 57 vignettes performed in just under two uninterrupted hours.
“This is an astonishing work from a writer who at age 80 and beyond continues to challenge both herself and audiences with plays that not only feel remarkably contemporary but also offer a deep and abiding defence of our common humanity,” said Canadian Stage Artistic and General Director, Matthew Jocelyn. “Love and Information” offers a brilliantly symphonic vision of the relationship between that which we consider the most objectively inhuman with that which we consider the most subjectively human, and asks us if that difference really exists.”
The play first debuted at the Royal Court Theatre in September 2012, arriving in New York at the Minetta Lane Theatre in February of 2014, at which point The New York Times’ Ben Brantley called the play a “sharp-minded, tender-hearted embrace of an ultimately random universe.”
Following their remarkable success helming King Lear and Twelfth Night for Canadian Stage’s 35th anniversary season of Shakespeare in High Park in 2017, Alistair Newton and Tanja Jacobs, who graduated from York’s MFA In Theatre - Stage Direction this year, join forces to bring this complex work to life. The directors lead an exceptional cast of eight actors including Jason Cadieux, Sarah Deller, Peter Fernandes, Maggie Huculak, Sheila Ingabire-Isaro, David Jansen, Reid Millar, Ngozi Paul.
Eo Sharp (set and costume design), André Du Toit (Lighting Design), and Jennifer Gillmor (sound design) round out the creative team.
Love and Information will be on stage at the Berkeley Street Theatre from April 10 - 29 (Media night: April 12). Performances run Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays at 8:00pm, Fridays at 7:00pm, with 1:00pm matinees on Wednesdays, Saturdays, and Sundays. Tickets from $39 to $69 are available online, by phone at 416.368.3110, or in person at the Berkeley Street box office. For details visit www.canadianstage.com.
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2018-03-21
Toronto: Canadian Stage presents "Love and Information" by Caryl Churchill April 10-29