Love's Labour's Lost
Among the things I like about the Shakespeare Tavern is the selection of plays -- a good mix of the everpopular ones such as Romeo & Juliet, Macbeth, and Midsummer Night's Dream, and the less well-known ones. This season has two problem plays, Troilus & Cressida last November, and Love's Labour's Lost, which is playing now, in rep with R&J (still!) for student matinees. People come to these! Troilus & Cressida was sold out nearly every night -- not to forced audiences of students bribed with extra credit, but people who just chose to come. This leads to another thing I like about the Tavern - they treat the audience as if they have brains. The actors' job is to make clear Shakespeare's words, but they are his words, not a modernized reworking. The stage is the same for all shows (well, there is a thrust for the stage that comes and goes, and the balcony stairs and rails vary a little), with some tarting up for the yearly musical ( this was for The Fantasticks), and scene changes happen when different characters come on the stage. This lets me sink into and float upon the words and not spend time saying Huh? at design choices.
So, now we're doing Love's Labour's Lost, called Shakespeare's talkiest play (hush -- I hear some of you saying they're all talky), and you know what? It is hilarious. The actors and the audiences are all practiced at this. We listen actively to what they are actively saying, and it works so very well. I think this is one of my favorites, in fact. I get cranky at some of the attitudes and pairings in so many (I've already ranted about R&J, and loathe the Hero plot in Much Ado), but this one is cute. Doofus young King and his friends vow to go without food, drink, sleep, and women for three years in order to improve themselves, which lasts all of about 10 minutes, until they're reminded that the French princess is on her way to negotiate with him. The four men see the princess and her three friends, all are smitten, and fluffy silliness in the Forest happens. The men disguise themselves as Russians to have an excuse to hang around the women, and the dance is inspired -- full of energy and vague ideas about what is Russian dance, and making fools of themselves. LLL is lifted above a fluff piece though, when just as the lovers are all sorting out their flirtations, the princess receives news that her father the king has just died. Instead of weeping and wailing, and fast marriages, the princess and her companions tell the men to go away and live by their vows for a year, and only then come around if they really mean the protestations of love. In other words, "Spring break is over, and I have papers to write and finals to take. See ya." The men agree, and they all separate to fulfill their obligations first, but they still love.
I liked that.