Monday, September 14, 2015

Love's Labor Lost - The Stratford Shakespeare Festivals "Diamond in the Rough" Production

Above (left to right): Andrew Robinson as Longaville, Mika Shara as Berowne, Sanjay Talwar as King Ferdinand of Navarre & Thomas Olajide as Dumaine

Above (left to right): Sarah Afful as Rosaline, Tiffany Claire Martin as Katherine, Ruby Joy as The Princess of France, Ijeoma Emesowum as Maria and their servants

Friends Berowne, Ferdinand, Dumaine and Longaville have all sworn an oath to abstain from the company of women and devote themselves to their studies for the next three years. Everyone accepts this arrangement, though Berowne is hesitant from the beginning if they will be able to do it. Soon after their oath is taken four women, led by the Princess of France, arrive to speak with King Ferdinand who reluctantly agrees to meet with them. Ferdinand instantly falls in love with the Princess, as his fellow scholars quickly fall for her ladies. They've sworn off women, but with the presence of these fine ladies, will they be able to ultimately fulfill the oath they've sworn to each other?

Love's Labor Lost is a Shakespeare play that I honestly know very little about. When it comes to me and Shakespeare I've usually read the play or at least know the significant quotes from it, but this was not the case with Love's Labor Lost. The only thing I knew was that some consider Love's Labor Lost to be the prequel to Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing (also known as Love's Labor Won), so I went into this production completely open and raw. Because of this, I think I was able to enjoy and understand more about the play then what I could read in a book. The cast was strong overall, though two performances particularly stood out. The first was Mike Shara as Berowne, whose playfulness and great ease at comedy made him flourish from beginning to end. Shara also had one, if not the best, monologue on the entire show and his delivery of it left my breathless and slightly teary. Having seen Shara is various Stratford productions, I strongly believe him to be an actor perfectly fit for Shakespearean comedies. The other performance that somewhat surprised but delighted me was that of Gabriel Long as Moth. Remembering him from last years production and personal favorite A Midsummer Nights Dream, I thought Long would mainly be on stage along for the ride with not much in the way of lines. I was very wrong, as Long had a substantial amount of text and was on stage with other actors for a majority of the play. Longs performance is a wonderful reminder that anyone can do Shakespeare no matter their age.

This production used traditional settings as well as costumes from the time period. For a play such as Love's Labor Lost I believe it would be difficult to set the play in a new setting without detracting from the text and the message the play ultimately leaves us with. This said, I loved seeing the cast in authentic costumes and looking down on each other from various balconies and staircases. But perhaps the greatest question of the play is what is the message? While much of it can be left up to interpretation, I believe the message can be summed up in one line from Berowne's significant monologue in Act IV: "Let us once lose our oaths to find ourselves, or else we lose ourselves to keep our oaths."(Berowne)
Keeping our promises is important, but to lose ourselves in the process is something far worse than breaking those promises.

Love's Labor Lost was a very refreshing production within Stratfords 2015 season. A play about the power of words, Love's Labor Lost is a production not to be missed this summer at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival.
     
Stratford Shakespeare Festivals Love's Labor Lost Trailer

For photos and videos of this production, visit:
http://www.stratfordfestival.ca/WhatsOn/PlaysAndEvents/Production/Loves-Labours-Lost and click on Videos & Photos

For more information about The Stratford Shakespeare Festival, visit:
http://www.stratfordfestival.ca/

***NEXT REVIEW:***
She Stoops to Conquer

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