Review: Love’s Labour’s Lost

Christiana Rose sees Shakespeare’s original rom-com get a riotous modern makeover at Upstairs at the Gatehouse

Four women on stage, seated in front of a set designed to look like a garden — Cast members from Love’s Labour Lost – (Credit – Christiana Rose)

Shakespeare’s Love’s Labour’s Lost may be more than 400 years old but Garden Suburb Theatre’s lively new production makes a convincing case for its credentials as the original romantic comedy.

Inspired by the films of Hugh Grant, Julia Roberts and Colin Firth, director Daryl Hurst approaches Shakespeare’s early comedy with the question of what might happen if Richard Curtis were to write a Shakespeare play. The answer is an energetic, knowingly silly production which retains the heart of Shakespeare’s text, while embracing the familiar ingredients of the classic romantic comedies of the 1990s and 2000s.

The premise itself feels remarkably suited to the genre. King Ferdinand of Navarre, played confidently by Tilak Patel, and his three companions Berowne, Longaville and Dumaine have decided to devote themselves to three years of study. Their rather extreme commitment comes with a series of rules, most importantly a ban on women and a vow not to fall in love.

Naturally, this lasts approximately no time at all. The arrival of the Princess of France, played with impressive clarity and articulation by Saria Babiker, and her ladies Rosaline, Maria and Katherine immediately puts the men’s carefully constructed intellectual superiority under pressure. Love, as Shakespeare repeatedly demonstrates, is considerably more difficult to regulate than the four men had anticipated.

The production is visually impressive from the outset. An archway surrounded by foliage provides a magical entrance into the world of the play, effectively transporting the audience into the garden setting and creating an appropriately playful environment for the increasingly chaotic action.

At the centre of the romantic complications are Berowne, played superbly by Oli Taylor, and Rosaline, played securely by Sophie Gray Barwick. They are arguably the most interesting couple to watch, with their relationship built around verbal sparring, intellectual competition and the constant challenge of trying to outwit one another.

Taylor is particularly strong with the delivery of Berowne’s lines, delightfully striking “saucy looks” and realising the importance of breaking the ill advised decree, confident in the language as his character attempts to reason his way around the inconvenient arrival of the love interests. There is a pleasing irony in watching the man who is most sceptical about his friends’ romantic foolishness becoming every bit as ridiculous himself.

The production places considerable emphasis on the power and intelligence of its female characters. The men’s romantic declarations are taken with a pinch of salt. This becomes especially enjoyable during the masquerade sequence, when the women have considerable fun confusing the men who arrive disguised as ‘Russians’.

The comic ensemble adds another layer of energy. Gary Fox has great fun as Don Adriano de Armado, with the character’s every entrance accompanied by a twang of Spanish music, establishing a playful rhythm and immediately signalling his larger-than-life personality. His extravagant approach to being a Spaniard in love provides one of the production’s most entertaining comic strands.

Mary Musker also deserves credit for creating clear distinctions between three characters, as she appears as Boyet, Moth and Dull. The performances add to the production’s sense of comic layering.

Sam Parizat’s Costard provides further opportunities for physical and verbal comedy, while Lauren Hendry Parsons brings Jaquenetta into the increasingly tangled world of romantic misunderstandings with relish.

One of the most effective directing choices is the repeated use of hiding behind statues, benches and straining to hear private conversations. Characters conceal themselves to listen to their rivals, discover secrets and attempt to work out what everybody else is doing. It is a simple comic device, but one which works particularly well here, allowing the production to build a series of escalating misunderstandings.

Hurst brings contemporary musical references into the production, creating a bridge between Shakespeare’s world and the romantic comedy influences which inspired this interpretation. The energy is particularly high during a lively game of keepy uppy involving a shuttlecock which helps maintain the pace, enhanced by the lighting, designed by James Clarke, which is used effectively to spotlight and isolate characters at particularly opportune moments.

The rhyming couplets in act two are delivered with jovial delight, helping the language feel accessible. This is important for a play which can sometimes feel indulgent and sprawling due to Shakespeare’s more elaborate wordplay.

The production’s central joke is that the men who believe themselves capable of conquering love through intellectual discipline are immediately defeated by it. They write love letters, hide from one another, expose one another’s secrets and ultimately make fools of themselves. The women, meanwhile, are always one step ahead.

That dynamic gives Love’s Labour’s Lost a required modern quality. Beneath the jokes is a much more serious observation: falling in love is easy, but proving that you are capable of loving and committing properly is considerably harder.

This becomes particularly important in the final stages of the play. Just as the audience might expect the familiar Shakespearean comedy conclusion of couples heading towards marriages, tragedy intervenes with the death of the Princess’s father. The women must leave, and the men are forced to wait.

It is an unusual ending for a Shakespearean comedy, and Garden Suburb Theatre finds an inventive way to handle it. The production continues its contemporary approach, including modern film references within the ending, while allowing the sudden shift in circumstances to retain its emotional weight.

The result is a production which understands that Love’s Labour’s Lost does not need to be made serious to demonstrate its value. Its greatest strength lies in its contradictions: it is clever but silly, romantic but cynical, wordy but energetic and more than a little ridiculous.

Hurst’s direction, supported by assistant director Toby Moore and producer Jo Moore, clearly embraces those contradictions. The production team has created a world in which the Shakespearean language can coexist comfortably with modern musical references, physical comedy and the familiar conventions of the romantic comedy.

There is an obvious affection for the material throughout the production. In his director’s note, Hurst describes Love’s Labour’s Lost as one of his favourite Shakespeare plays and argues that it is underrated within the canon. This production certainly makes a persuasive argument for its comic potential.

More than four centuries after Shakespeare wrote it, Love’s Labour’s Lost still understands something that the best romantic comedies have always known. Love makes fools of us all.

Garden Suburb Theatre’s Love’s Labour’s Lost ran Upstairs at the Gatehouse, Highgate from 9th–11th October. More information on Garden Suburb Theatre is available here.

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