We all as human beings have come in contact with love. We have all been heartbroken in some way which has been related to love. We have all witnessed the good side and the bad side of this emotion. I decided to showcase this in a form of a play titled: One-Sided Love. Every character showcases this powerful emotion in a different way, along with their insecurities around this. Sometimes we think we know what love is until we get hurt and realise the crucial reality, as Patricia one of the characters puts it nicely in the play; 

“Being loved and being wanted are two totally different things” 

Couldn’t be more truth to it. The meaning of this is we let our insecurities dictate to us what love is and we settle on anyone who will want us even if they are bad for us because of the craving of our wanting. Love shouldn’t be as hard as some people make it for themselves. What does love mean to you?

If it's the opposite from your experience of love, then simply your craving to be wanted, not to be loved. It should never feel one-sided. Love should be as a whole. Two people giving the same back. Jasper the main character comes across confident but if you look closely at his actions within the play you get the total opposite. We think we know what we want, but our actions say differently. Look at his fear and his actions confirm.

With all the characters in One-Sided Love, they share one thing in common and that is they all crave being wanted. They think it’s love but it's far from it. The past can either make you learn or it can dictate the future. All the characters have a different way of approaching their past and dealing with the pain. Jeremy is a prime example of this and you will understand this when you read the play. Missing out on opportunities, insecurities disabling him from moving onto who he truly wants to be. Instead he’s “the person on the outside looking in”. We also have the main character Iris trying so hard to be loved the way she gives love to others but it seems she always gets disappointed from past experience as she describes

“Love for me is the opposite, one word to describe love for me, one word... disappointment.”

Is this because she wants to be wanted instead of loved? Will she realise this notion or do what so many men and women do and settle? Become normal to the chaos instead of actually having that happiness what love brings?

I don’t want to reveal too much too soon but I do guarantee everyone who does read it will take away something from it. As a writer, this is my aim to get the reader to really think and to question themselves. 

So are you craving being loved? or are you craving being wanted? 

One-Sided Love will be available for download on 20th April. Stay tuned for more information.

Words by Christopher Woodward
Pictures & Design by Andrew Smith
Design by Bob Towers