UNIT 12

 UNIT 12:

                       Love & Information

For my final major Project the actors and dancers will be performing in the play 'Love and Information' by Caryl Churchhill. This play looks at many different stories made into short scenes with some stories connected to previous scenes. As this play transitions into different stories and some are connected in previous scenes I found that there are many themes in the play such as; Mental health, love , obsession, secrets, science, family , truth ,lies, loss, religion and pain. 

As Stage manager I have read through the script and have watched other productions of 'Love & Information' to gain ideas for lighting and some stage props and sets that could be used for our final major project.

Research:

Playwright Caryl Churchill was born in London September 3rd 1938. She then attended Lady Margaret Hail, Oxford university, where she wrote her first play 'Downstairs' that was staged in 1958 and won her an award st the Sunday times National union of students Drama festival.

Churchill then went on to write plays for the BBC Radio that included the Arts (1962) , Lovesick (1967) and Abortive (1971). She had great success with two productions in 1972, her play 'Owners' premiered at the royal court theatre in London along with 'The Judges wife' and was then televised on the BBC

https://literature.britishcouncil.org/writer/caryl-churchill

'Love and Information' was published in 2012 and was first performed at the Royal Court theatre. The scenes in the play vary in different lengths, some last seconds and some last 5 minutes, there is also no main character throughout the play showing their journey throughout. The script has no stage direction, fixed location and the lines are not assigned to a specific character. This helps and gives the opportunity to rehearse in different styles to understand the theme of that scene. This give the actor the freedom to explore their character and understand them. 

The actors are playing multiple roles in different scenes, whether it is short or long this will give the actors opportunities to try different roles and come out of their comfort zone to express their different roles. When a director is given a 'Love and Information' they can choose how many actors are needed in each scene. When this production was performed at the Royal Court, there were 16 members in the cast and in other production there have been 8. 

Caryl Churchill is one of Britain highly respected Playwright who's writing highlights social issues within society itself. Caryl is also known for not giving interviews about her plays, instead, she wants the audience to find their own meaning with the text and take away what resonates with them. 

Most of the scenes do not give a clear picture of what they are about, who the characters are or whar the relationship is between the characters. The actors and director will discuss these thoughts during the read through as well as stage set and lighting. 

There are some scenes where they give a clearer understanding of scene, such as 'The Child who didn't know how to say sorry' you can clearly tell the scene is between and adult and a child. In the scene the adult is telling the child how to say sorry for what they did. 

Monday 21st February

Before half term we were given the full script to 'Love and Information' and was to read through it and understand the play ready for when we come back to college after half term ready to start. As stage manager I read through the play and watched couple of other productions to get ideas for lighting and props for the actors to use for their final major project. 

When we returned to college after half term we all went through the script and Rob had asked the actors what new challenges are we going to be facing doing this production, since most scenes aren't clear as there aren't any stage directions or how many characters are in one scene. This also gave the actors, Rob and I to discuss what we think maybe happening in the scene, who the characters are and what their relationship maybe with each other in the scene. 

Rehearsals  

Due to our class being unserious, most of our rehearsal time was wasted a lot as some students in class wouldn't turn up to rehearsals to run through their scenes which made it difficult for me and Rob to mark the script during rehearsal time so that the tech rehearsal goes smoothly and we all knew what music is for what scenes and what lighting states are for which scenes. 

After a while the class started to take rehearsals seriously and I was able to mark the script with Rob during this time which made it easier for me. I wrote what actors were entering which scenes and what music was played for the right scenes.

After marking the final script I then had to start thinking about my role as a stage manager on what my next task was. I then started to gather some ideas using youtube and watching other productions of 'Love and Information' for lighting, set, props and costumes ideas. As stage manager I have the job of supporting and organising the different groups and teams, the actors were put in pairs and each pair had a roll to complete, one pair was in charge of costume and others were in charge of props, set, sound etc..

As stage manager I had to communicate with all groups to ensure that everyone was on track so that we could have a smooth running of the production. A stage manager also provides practical and organisational support to the director , actors, designers, stage crew, and technicians throughout the production process. 

Rehearsals were very important as stage manager and director (Rob) work side by side during this time as the stage manager (me) records the directors decisions about blocking and making notes and cues for actors and technicians. This allows Rob to concentrate his full attention on directing.

Tech rehearsal 

For our first tech rehearsal I wasn't able to tech the lights that I wanted as I wasnt in class, but Ezra had come back to college to help with the production aswell as Josh from first year, so the only thing left for me to do what the sound, making sure the sounds and all the slides were in the right order ready for the first show and helping actors go over lines for a final practice before the show.