Love's Labour's Lost: a 'laugh-a-minute-delight' starring Bridgerton's Luke Thompson
A bold, modern twist on one of Shakespeare's earlier comedies
A new era has dawned at the Royal Shakespeare Company, and if the "first production is anything to go by, it's going to be a bright one", said Fiona Mountford in The i Paper. To launch their tenure, the RSC's new artistic directors, Daniel Evans and Tamara Harvey, have chosen "Love's Labour's Lost". This infrequently revived comedy is a "quietly audacious choice for an opening salvo" – and it pays off handsomely.
Directed by Emily Burns, the production is set in the modern day, in a luxury wellness retreat in the Polynesian Islands, said Holly O'Mahony in The Stage – which proves an ideal location for Shakespeare's tale of attempted abstinence and lovelorn longings. "High-spirited and oozing sparky chemistry", this is a "laugh-a-minute delight".
"Love's Labour's Lost", about four young aristocrats who swear off women, is a tricky play to pull off, said Arifa Akbar in The Guardian, with its strained wordplay, convoluted subplots and "too inevitable" resolution.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
But with a fizzing cast led by Bridgerton's Luke Thompson and some terrific physical comedy, this production is an "air-punching" joy, said Sarah Crompton on What's on Stage. Burns brings an extra contemporary twist by making the four friends "tech-bro billionaires"; there are strong "White Lotus" vibes to Joanna Scotcher's gorgeous set; and the text has been nicely trimmed, and given some modern interpolations, to create a "relaxed, fast-talking vibe". But the "real pleasure comes from the way the production mines Shakespeare's language to discover new resonance and humour". In this "wonderfully calibrated" staging, each moment lands "with thoughtful precision".
It's superbly cast, too, said Dominic Cavendish in The Telegraph. Thompson "oozes charm" as Berowne, Ioanna Kimbook compels as the aloof, amused Rosaline, and there are cracking comic performances everywhere you look – notably Jack Bardoe's "strutting hoot of a Spaniard Don Armado", and Tony Gardner's mania-tinged pedant Holofernes. What a great start; keep it up.
Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon (01789-331111). Until 18 May
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
5 highly educational cartoons about student protests
Cartoons Artists take on apolitical camping, the National Guard, and more
By The Week US Published
-
French schools and the scourge of teenage violence
Talking Point Gabriel Attal announces 'bold' intervention to tackle rise in violent incidents
By The Week UK Published
-
On the trail of India’s wild lions at Sasan Gir National Park
The Week Recommends The sanctuary is a 'roaring' conservation success
By The Week UK Published
-
The London Library and Elizabeth Winkler's female Shakespeare claims
Why Everyone's Talking About Critics say an event suggesting Shakespeare may have been a woman is 'wildly inappropriate'
By The Week UK Published
-
A Taste of Honey: 'wonderful' revival remains 'vital and relevant'
The Week Recommends The 'period-perfect' production features a 'universally excellent cast'
By The Week UK Published
-
An Enemy of the People: a 'blistering, modern-dress production'
The Week Recommends Director Thomas Ostermeier's update of Ibsen's classic is 'shockingly fresh'
By The Week UK Published
-
Best of the Bard in 2024: the Shakespeare plays everyone's talking about
The Week Recommends A handful of Shakespeare productions are making headlines in the theatre world and they haven't even opened yet
By Ellie O'Mahoney, The Week UK Published
-
Best family-friendly West End shows
The Week Recommends The pick of theatre aimed at a younger audience, from Frozen to Mrs Doubtfire
By Adrienne Wyper Published
-
As You Like It: a ‘good-natured comedic romp’
The Week Recommends Actors in their 60s, 70s and 80s unite in the Royal Shakespeare Theatre’s ‘poignant’ production
By The Week Staff Published
-
A Midsummer Night’s Dream review: an ‘assured’ new staging at the Globe
The Week Recommends This production of Shakespeare’s classic ‘doesn’t reinvent the wheel’ but it’s ‘gleeful’
By The Week Staff Published
-
Hamnet review: ‘beautifully acted’ but doesn’t ‘pierce the heart’
The Week Recommends Swan Theatre reopens with stage adaptation of Maggie O’Farrell’s bestselling novel
By The Week Staff Published