The original rom-com ‘Love’s Labour’s Lost’ kicks off Colorado’s Shakespearience June 8
“Let us once lose our oaths to find ourselves,
Or else we lose ourselves to keep our oaths.”
Berowne, “Love’s Labour’s Lost”
“In Shakespeare’s wise take on the process of growing up, young men and women try to find themselves,” says Brendon Fox, Director of “Love’s Labour’s Lost”, which kicks off the 2018 Colorado Shakespeare Festival season on June 8.
“We get to watch them spar, flirt, stumble, pick themselves up and hopefully gain a little maturity along the way. We witness romantic love, close friendship, admiration between a mentor and pupil … and self-love.”
CSF’s production of Shakespeare’s must-see comedy about the struggle between love and intellect is set at the turn of the 20th century, when self-improvement, outdoor activities and continuing education were all the rage.
“’Love’s Labour’s Lost’ is the original rom-com,” says CSF Producing Artistic Director Timothy Orr. He is particularly thrilled to welcome an all-new, diverse cast for this production opening the festival’s 61st season, comprising four sets of lovers exploring delightfully frothy themes of romance at various stages of maturity.
In the bucolic Kingdom of Navarre, four attractive young men make a pact to swear off romance and focus on their studies—just minutes before the future loves of their lives walk by. Hilarity ensues in the form of clever disguises, foolish pranks, mistaken identities and mixed messages. And, needless to say, plenty of sexual tension.
“The four women are smarter and wiser, of course,” laughs Orr. “And the verbal pyrotechnics sprinkled throughout the script from start to finish punctuate familiar themes of couplehood through battles of wits.”
Written around 1595 and published in 1598, “Love’s Labour’s Lost” may be uncomplicated in its plot, but it is extravagant in its use and enjoyment of language. But as Fox concludes, “For all the fun and funny uses of language in “Love’s Labour’s Lost“, the play ultimately illustrates the limits of words to express difficult, turbulent emotions.
“As they grow up before our eyes, our lovers need to learn when to speak … and when to listen.”
“Love’s Labour’s Lost” runs through August 12 and tickets start at $20.