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Love's Labour's Lost
By Rob Ormsby
In Stratford's current production of Love's Labour's Lost, director Antoni Cimolino, tries to have light-hearted fun with the play. However, it is a lifeless piece of theatre that gets what is, at best, uneven work from much of its cast.
Shakespeare's play hinges on the oath to abstain from the company of women and to lead austere lives for three years in the pursuit of knowledge taken by Ferdinand, the young King of Navarre (Shane Carty) and his raw courtiers Berowne (Graham Abbey), Longaville (Stephen Gartner), and Dumain (Caleb Marshall). The callow noblemen's vows are, not surprisingly, broken when the Princess of France (Dana Green) and her ladies-in-waiting Maria (Sarah McVie), Katharine (Deborah Hay) and Rosaline (Michelle Giroux) arrive.
Cimolino has set the production in the 1780s, a period indicated almost exclusively by designer Santo Loquasto's handsome and serviceable costuming. His set consists of an upstage grove of willows and a sort of open caravan to which are attached the scholars' instruments of learning, and which is used to stage a number of scenes, including the pageant of the Nine Worthies, a play-within-the- play.
Carty's Ferdinand and his courtiers are a dreary bunch who have invested little emotional energy into their characterizations and seem to have trouble convincingly filling the large space-which demands rhetorical confidence-with their voices. Such lack of charisma and lung power is rather surprising from Abbey, a Stratford stalwart, and a naturally appealing actor who, until now, has been one of the Festival's most technically proficient and reliably compelling performers.
More surprising still is Brian Bedford's embarrassing turn as Don Armado, the Spanish nobleman whose love letter to the rustic beauty Jaquenetta (Adrienne Gould) is accidentally switched with a sonnet that Berowne has intended for Rosaline. Bedford, whose accomplishment at Stratford is second only to William Hutt's, gives us a twee, lilting Armado, who minces about the stage with his arms held tentatively aloft, in a gesture halfway between that of a passionate orator and an ineffective scarecrow inviting birds to alight. It is a bizarre concession to simplistically broad comedy from an actor of such poise and stature. Jacob James is allowed to get far too carried away as Moth, Armado's servant, his shouting and frenetic activity doing little to breathe life into the scenes he shares with Bedford.
Fortunately, the four female principals are very strong, and their arrival occasions a vivacity sorely lacking in their male counterparts. Although Green is a witty and charming Princess surrounded by witty and charming ladies, who all have a command of their vocal delivery, Giroux stands above the rest with the composed assurance that resounds in her crystal-clear voice. Her Rosaline is so engaging that she temporarily elevates Abbey's performance for their scene together shortly after the announcement of the King of France's demise.
The play's very finest work comes from Jonathan Goad as Costard, a strapping rural swell who is Jaquenetta's true love, and who obviously knows a thing or two about cou ntry matters (he is the father of her child). Like his character, Goad finds a way to have a good time in this crowd, and the actor clearly delights in the flashes of inspired wordplay that roll trippingly off Costard's tongue. Cimolino's relatively straightforward approach is not necessarily misguided but it seems too bad that the hallmark of this Loves Labour's Lost is the facile upbeat music that closes out the action.
For links to other Stratford Festival reviews see our Stratford Festival Page
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Love's Labour's Lost . By William Shakespeare Directed by Antoni Cimolino Cast: Shane Carty, Graham Abbey, Stephen Gartner, Caleb Marshall, Jonathan Goad, Adrienne Gould, Brian Bedford, Jacob James, Les Carlson, Barry MacGregor, Brian Tree, Tim MacDonald, Haysam Kadri, Dana Green, Michelle Giroux, Deborah Hay, Sarah McVie, James Blendick, Donald Carrier, Kyle Blair, Laird Mackintosh, Cory O'Brien Set and Costume Design: Santo Loquasto Lighting Designer: Steven Hawkins Sound Designer: Peter McBoyle Running Time: 3 hours with 1 intermission Stratford Festival Festival Theatre, Queen St., Stratford, Ontario Telephone: 1-800-567-1600 Tues-Sun @8pm, 2pm in rep; $39.40-$94.47 (CDN), some discounts Previewing August 8, 2003, Opening August 20, 2003, Closing November 2, 2003 Reviewed by Rob Ormsby based on 8/23/03 performance |
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