Shakespeare & Company, Lenox, MA
through August 18, 2018
by Joan Mento
 |
| Photo by Eloy Garcia |
A youthful Shakespeare penned this early comedy and youthful
actors performed a hilarious romp in Shakespeare & Company's production.
Love's Labor's Lost is a feast of language that presents a challenge to
directors and actors since topical references and archaic language dominate a
thin plot line. Director Kelly Galvin cut the script not only to secure a 90-minute
production but also to make outdated allusions and complex puns understandable
and entertaining. She accomplished this feat by effectively using the outdoor
setting, the physicality of the agile actors, and techniques of commedia.
The outdoor space made a natural setting for the Princess of
France and her three ladies. They were to be "lodged in the field"
because the King of Navarre and his three couriers had just taken a vow to
study, fast, and shun women. A flat wooden oval served as a stage. A tent (doubling
as a dressing room) was behind the stage up a small hill. The rest was
wide-open grass flanked by trees.
The expansive setting also aided the energetic actors in
their running, dancing, rope pulling, and sword fighting scenes-all devices to
better the audience's understanding of the convoluted language and play on
words. Commedia characteristics were portrayed by the Spanish Don Armado in his
exaggerated accent and courtly gestures. Further comedy was portrayed in Luke
Haskell's clowning of Costard's "remuneration" speeches as well as
Dull's constant use of malaprops.
At first sight of her the King of Navarre has fallen in love
with the Princess of France and his courtiers with her ladies. The men break
their oath of shunning women by each writing a love sonnet to his chosen lady.
Consequently, oilier the hilarious slapstick way the men try to conceal their
broken vows, they implore the witty Berowne played admirably by David Bertoldi (with his expressive vocals and
strong stage presence) to justify
their actions. Berowne says it is not natural for young men to shun love, for
their study now is in women's eyes and beauty.
At one point in this fun tilled battle of the sexes, the men
disguise as Muscovites to woo the women. Forewarned, the women wear masks and
amotdiei' woman's jewels so that the men pledge love to the wrong lady. Here
Shakespeare employs actual "Masque” movements as each pair goes off for a
private conversation, two by two like a formal dance. This play has the seeds
for later Shakespearean comedies such as Mid Summer Night’s Dream and Much Ado
About Nothing. The Pageant by the Nine Worthies in LLL is similar to the play of Paramus and
Thisbe put on by the workmen at the end of Mid Summer. The witty banter between
Berowne and Rosaline looks forward to the wordplay of the more complex Beatrice
and Benedick in Much Ado.
The playful romp of this production culminates in a joyful
battle with water gums and balloons. At the height of the conviviality, the
messenger Marcade enters announcing the death of the Princess's father. The
tone shifts to somber. The men must postpone their courtship with promises to
do atonements for a year. Then the women will return. The production ends with
a mournful song in acappella followed by a stately dance by all the actors.
