By Caryl Churchill. Directed by Lauren Taylor. A UBC Department of Theatre and Film production. At the Frederic Wood Theatre on Thursday, January 19. Continues until February 4

It takes a kind of fearlessness to even attempt to stage Caryl Churchill’s Love and Information. There are more than 100 characters and 50-plus vignettes packed inside the play’s tight 90 minutes, and there’s no easy through-line with which to connect the dots. Instead, there are fragments, some more successful than others, exploring the titular elements of love and information and their extrapolations: feelings and facts, relationships and choices, and chaos and order in the 21st century.

A play like this—in which actors are often tasked with establishing fully realized characters on nothing much more than a few lines of dialogue, a costume change, and some props—is perfect fodder for students developing their craft. Occasionally, that’s what Love and Information feels like, though: a classroom exercise with an audience. Some of the jokes don’t land, or the dialogue just gets too cluttered and messy because of Churchill’s fondness for characters speaking over each other and cutting one another off. Love and Information also suffers somewhat from a lack of complexity. It’s as if Churchill was so in love with her own concept she didn’t concern herself with moments that come off as a bit cliché, like the recurring vignette “Depression”, which features a character alone in the dark, a large projection of the actor’s sad-looking face looming in the background.

On the bright side, because of the sheer number of characters, every actor in the 18-person cast gets at least one moment to shine, but Sabrina Vellani is a standout. Her comic timing and delivery are excellent, she’s incredibly natural, and I found myself perking up every time she appeared on-stage. She’s one to watch.

The real stars of Love and Information are director Lauren Taylor and the crew. With all of the moving parts—humans, props, costumes, projections, lighting, et cetera—this is one of the most polished and beautifully produced shows I’ve ever seen. Sophie Tang’s set and projection design is flawless, as is Stefan Zubovic’s lighting and projection design. Costume designer Alaia Hamer had 100 characters to dress, and from the teens in two purposefully different but similar Justin Bieber shirts to the game show contestants wearing outlandish neon-coloured formal wear (very much inspired by the Capitol dwellers in The Hunger Games), every look is perfect. The pace is breakneck, but it never feels rushed, and that’s a testament to Taylor’s confidence with the material. She rises above Love and Information’s weak spots and takes everybody else with her.