The Thing About Love

11 - 13 actors
6f, 5m, 1-2 any gender
2 of the male characters could be female or nonbinary
 
Five weddings and a birthday party where the birthday girl marries herself! An immersive romantic comedy the celebrates the highs and lows of love, dating, breakups, reconnections, marriage, and self-love with a lot of cake and the Nutbush. 
 
'The thing about love is that it's hard to sustain.'
'It can manifest itself in so many different forms.' 
'It's messy. Like, complicated.'
'Sometimes it catches you by surprise...'
'Sometimes that surprise is the best part...'
 
This one-act romantic comedy follows a group of friends and the twists and turns on their path to finding true love while attending each other's weddings - and a birthday party.
 
Clara and Ollie are the first in their group to get married. It should be the most wonderful day of their lives, but Clara is terrified of ‘failing’ her own wedding. When Maggie, Ollie’s childhood friend and object of his past ‘limerence’, turns up uninvited as a carer for a guest at their reception, Clara begins to doubt Ollie’s true feelings. While Ollie is certain that once the wedding is over they’ll never see Maggie ever again, Jordan takes a keen interest in the ‘new girl’ and, well, love blossoms.
 
Theo and Grace struggle against traditional social norms and gender roles, projecting their insecurities on their relationship, while Eva grows more self-conscious about the pressure to find both emotional and physical connection with a future partner. If Grace and Theo are to ever make a successful trip down the aisle, they must start to truly see and accept each other for who they are, while Eva goes on a journey of self-love to discover what she truly wants and doesn’t need in a relationship.  
 
Charlie bumbles through awkward flirting and disastrous attempted proposals on their way to the altar with the pragmatic Holly while best friends, Finn and Rachel, scared of being left behind, vow to marry each other if they are still single at 40. As they turn to power of the ‘Magic Baci’ in an attempt to foretell their romantic destiny, they discover that ‘The One’ for them might be closer than they ever thought…
 
This feelgood comedy, filled with relatable characters and all-too-familiar situations, celebrates love in all its wonderful, awkward, heartbreaking, surprising, ridiculous, painful, illogical, terrifying and beautiful glory.