Love Bites (paperback)

Love Bites by Sam Siggs

A funny, fast-moving and highly flexible play for youth theatre groups, drama departments and young performers.

Midsummer night in Edinburgh. Cupid is having a terrible day.

Dressed in plastic angel wings, carrying a bow and arrow, and sobbing on a park bench, the God of Love is forced to confront an uncomfortable truth: humans make love very, very complicated.

From playground crushes and catastrophic attempts at asking someone out, to friendship, grief, jealousy, break-ups, awkward silences and unexpected tenderness, Love Bites offers a sharp, comic and compassionate look at love from a young person’s perspective.

Written by Sam Siggs and originally commissioned by Strange Town for its youth theatre, the play was developed from workshops with teenage performers. The result is a collection of connected scenes — or “bites” — that capture the humour, embarrassment, intensity and emotional truth of growing up.

Why it works for schools and youth theatres

Love Bites is ideal for drama teachers, youth theatre directors and young people’s theatre companies looking for a contemporary ensemble play with real flexibility.

The play offers:

• A large, adaptable cast with opportunities for many young performers
• Short, varied scenes that can be rehearsed in smaller groups
• Strong comic roles alongside more emotionally thoughtful material
• Flexible casting, with character names, gender and locations open to adaptation
• A 60-minute running time suitable for school productions, youth theatre showcases and festival performances
• Themes that young performers can connect with immediately: friendship, identity, rejection, grief, attraction, confidence, vulnerability and communication

The vignette structure makes the play especially practical for busy rehearsal schedules. Scenes can be staged as a full production, used as extracts in class, or selected for performance depending on cast size and ability.

For classroom study

Alongside its performance potential, Love Bites gives drama students rich material for discussion and practical exploration. The play invites students to consider how comedy can reveal emotional truth, how ensemble theatre can be structured around a central theme, and how young characters navigate love in all its strange, messy and recognisable forms.

With scenes ranging from broad physical comedy to quieter moments of vulnerability, the text supports work on characterisation, tone, movement, pacing, ensemble storytelling and contemporary dialogue.

Key themes

Love, friendship, rejection, grief, awkwardness, jealousy, identity, communication, growing up, emotional honesty, youth culture, ensemble performance.

CAST: Flexible mixed cast (recommended: 14–16)
DURATION: Approx. 60 minutes
Recommended audience: 12+
Setting: Various locations, adaptable for production needs

Love Bites is a warm, witty and highly performable play for young actors — full of cringe, chaos, comedy and heart.