The RSC's
production of Shakespeare's Love's Labour's Lost whilst providing the usual
glamour and glitz of a typical night at the award winning theatre with
beautiful Edwardian costumes and a moving set, the Prince's vision to study for
three years without any pesky women getting in the way with their distracting
boobs, bums and other feminine bits was sadly distorted by an apparent last
minute attempt to wedge in a reminder of the centenary of World War One. The
final scene where the Prince and his fellow scholars reappear on stage in
officers' uniforms ready to depart for The Front did not match the lines that
they had delivered just a minute beforehand so the resulting effect was that it
looked like The RSC did not want to get into any hot water for forgetting to
commemorate the centenary! If they had wanted to stage a Shakespeare play and
set it in the summer of 1914 then there are plenty of plays which would lend
themselves well to this resituating, such as Julius Caesar, Coriolanus, Othello, Anthony and Cleopatra or even Henry IV part 1 and 2, which they staged
this year!
On the whole, however, the production is very good. Don Armado provided a fantastic 'Spanglish' accent and presented a sweet and poignant relationship with his man servant, Mote. The rooftop scene where Berowne overhears the Prince and his friends alternately outpouring their love in their crafted sonnets was extremely amusing, especially with the introduction of Teddy. As such, definitely a show to watch with the poorly thought out and last minute insertion of WW1 being a minor blot on a very good and very funny production!
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