Liz Lauren
Two groups of people stand in front of an archway.
When young King Ferdinand of Navarre and his buddies swear to concentrate on the books and ignore women, their resolve is tested by a princess and her ladies-in-waiting.
Love’s Labour’s Lost is a silly play. There are a lot of good reasons that it’s done infrequently. In fact, American Players Theatre has produced it only a handful of times, most recently in 2002.
One of Shakespeare’s earliest comedies, it is jam-packed with relentless wordplay that can be more work to decipher than the jokes are worth. And it doesn’t help that modern audiences have no hope of understanding some of the jibes that the Elizabethan court probably howled at — scholars believe Shakespeare was using the play to satirize contemporary figures from the late 16th century. A meditation on the fickleness of youth, the overwhelming power of infatuation to destroy higher aims, and the idea that words can be so tortured that they lose meaning altogether, it is light on plot and dense in language.
And that is why you should run, not walk, to the American Players Theatre box office to get your tickets to the company’s incredibly smart, lush, effervescent production of the play, running in the outdoor Hill Theatre through October 2. It will make you laugh until your stomach hurts. It is joy in its purest form. It is also a reminder of how much talent APT regularly assembles for its classical productions — which can be absolutely transformed in the hands of a cast and production team who unabashedly unleash their entire creative selves.
Artistic Director Brenda DeVita set herself quite a challenge when she decided that Love’s Labour’s Lost would be her first Shakespeare play sitting in the director’s chair. But like this season’s other raucous comedy The Rivals, embroidered and punched up so fantastically by director Aaron Posner, this version of the frequently overlooked Shakespeare play is an unmitigated delight.
Dressed in breathtaking, technicolor costumes straight from 1950s Hollywood (Holly Payne outdoes herself with the enchanting period design), the top-notch cast members embrace every comic impulse they can imagine, while wading through some of the bard’s most challenging passages. Like the multicolored floral mantle that cascades down onto the marble gray walls of “Navarre University,” the staid halls of academia stand no chance against the exuberant bloom of young people looking for some mischief, romance, and forbidden fruit. (The playful, vibrant scenic design, complete with a well placed statue, is by Scott Penner.)
The play pits the young King Ferdinand of Navarre (a tousled Nate Burger) and his handsome fraternity brothers against a French princess (an elegant Phoebe González) and her entourage, in a battle of wits, charms, sonneteering and oathmaking. At rise, the guys are recovering from a wild night of college partying. The King and his right hand men decide to get serious about their studies, so they solemnly swear to devote the next three years to hitting the books and avoiding the ladies. But before the ink has dried on their official promissory note, they get a visit from a stunning bevy of beauties from abroad. Clearly their resolve will be tested. The Princess and her ladies-in-waiting are more than up for the challenge, particularly after they are denied entry to the palace and asked to camp in a nearby field instead. The guys are all lovable scamps, the women are all too wise to woo peaceably, and they are a joy to watch as they joust at one another.
As the Princess’s attendant Rosaline, Melissa Pererya is chief mischief-maker, and her banter with her would-be beau Berowne (a swaggering Marcus Truschinski) crackles with smart and savage flirtation. Perhaps an early version of Much Ado’s uncivil lovers Beatrice and Benedick, they are electric in their exchanges. Truschinski also shoulders some of the play’s longest, most opaque passages, throwing all of his heart and linguistic skill into the speeches to carry the audience along.
The zany characters who surround the four couples are equally ridiculous and amusing in their own ways. Jeb Burris goes all in as wily servant Costard, who may actually be smarter than all the learned men at the university. Triney Sandoval is the love-sick, loquacious Spaniard Don Armado, befuddled by language that cannot contain his passion for the lowly local girl, Jaquenetta (Gabriela Castillo). And Josh Krause’s Constable Dull lives up to his name as the power-walking, goofy campus policeman who is never in danger of catching a criminal. But the award for comic duo of the night goes to Jim Ridge’s synonym-spouting professor Holofernes and his eager audience Nathaniel, a shy curate played by David Daniel. They ramp up the funny by celebrating popular products from the 1950s, including Jell-O and a Kodak Brownie camera.
Historians tell us there was music in the original script of Love’s Labour’s Lost, but the bard could not have imagined the sublime song and dance numbers that APT’s production inserts into the play, under the musical direction of Rebecca Schinker, with brilliant choreography by Brian Cowing. There are 1950s harmonies and cool moves to match — it seems impossible that anything could get in the way of all this groovy young love.
The play’s ending throws a wrench in the frivolity of the story, but it doesn’t feel out of character since every part of this production is a surprise. Ultimately the audience leaves with smiles on our faces and hope for the future —which feels like exactly what we all need right now.
Another note about understudies
Theater during a pandemic isn’t just challenging, it is a herculean feat. Nowhere is that more true than at APT, where a large company of actors have parts in multiple plays, and by necessity they live and work closely together for months. And although COVID-19 is not the threat it once was for the general population, it is wreaking havoc with the casts this summer.
On opening night there were three fearless understudies in the cast, including Kailey Azure Green, whose last minute role included swordplay (!); Laura Rook, who was assistant director of the production; and Nancy Rodriguez who subbed in for Sarah Day with only a few hours notice. They all performed wonderfully under extraordinary circumstances, and received special applause from their fellow castmates at curtain call.
