Love’s Labours Lost: William Shakespeare

RSC@ RST, Stratford Upon Avon

Runs: 3h One interval, till 18 May.

4✩✩✩✩ Review: Roderick Dungate.

AD Performance, 11 May 2024

“A Love’s Labours Lost that fits our age.”

Love’s Labours Lost has an unlikely plot; four young men sign and oath to closet themselves away to study and promise not to meet with any women during the time. But four women come along and, surprise, surprise, they neatly fall in love with each other. So, suspending disbelief involves some serious weightlifting. However, a youthful love story is not the whole. The play is also about language and linguistic style; this aspect of the play’s exploration does not sit easily with us today.

Director, Emily Burns, has made a clear choice to home in on youthful energy; the young men become attractive through their naïve vulnerability, and because they make us laugh, we love them.

The acting space vibrates with this energy, matched with witty invention. (Albeit some of the physical comedy, while beautifully describe by the Audio Describers, lacks somewhat for vision impaired audience members.) But the good humour is totally infectious.

The young men are nicely characterised and differentiated. Luke Thompson as Berowne, leads the pack and skilfully sweeps us along with his physicality and vocal clarity.

The scene in which the young men discover they have each broken their oaths is brilliantly staged (a letter scene on steroids) excavates every micro-milligram of clowning from Joanna Scotcher’s fluid settings.

Having the women, instead of appearing in hunting gear, come along in golf attire, replete with golfing buggy, is also inspired.

Moth (Iskender Eaton) is as enchanting, as Moth should be, and his partnership with Jack Bardoe (A PERFECTLY PREPOSTEROUS Armado) brings us great delight, though a little lowering of the volume control would be welcome.

Losing the formal language aspect is a bit of a loss, but we live in an age of judicial compromise.

Having said this, there is a beautiful shift in tone and playing style towards the conclusion, and the bitter-sweet ending strikes home. An unexpected and welcome surprise.

Cast

Ferdinand – Abiola Owokoniran

Berowne – Like Thompson

Longaville – Eric Stroud

Dumaine – Brandon Bassir

Don Armado – Jack Bardoe

Princess – Melaine-Joyce Bermudez

Rosaline – Ionna Kimbrook

Katherine – Amy Griffiths

Maria – Sarita Gabony

Boyet – Jordan Metcalfe

Marcade – JaFeffrey Chekai

Holofernes – Tony Gardner

Dull – Kok-Hwa Lie

Costard – Nathan Ford

Jaquenetta – Marienella Pillips

Moth – Iskenader Eaton

Creatives

Director – Emily Burns

Sets and Costumes – Joanna Scotcher

Lighting – Neil Austin

Composer – Paul Englishby