Critique of Love's Labour's Lost

So, I thought that the play overall was quite well done.  My favorite parts were Costard's.  It just really helps to have a character like him come to life.  He is definitely the biggest reason, I feel, that this play is a comedy.  He just has so many lines, and I thought the actor did alright portraying him as a mischievous individual.

Let's talk about the setting.  It was interesting to have it set in the 40's, but I thought it fit very nicely.  It was very interesting too to have so much of it revolve around the United Service Organization radio show.  Although I never really did see much of why the "Duke" had so much sway and influence, nor did I see them really stay away from women AT ALL during the play, I thought just about everything else fit in perfectly well.  After all, Don Armado was supposed to be good at entertaining, so he fit into the radio show host quite well.

Reading through the director's note, I can especially see why this fit well.  After all, many of Shakespeare's romantic comedies end with a marriage scene, or scenes as the case may be.  However, in Love's Labour's Lost they don't end in this way.  In similar manner, none of the characters married at the end of this production as they didn't want to marry someone who'd just go off and die.  Although the director's grandparents did get married beforehand, I can definitely see how this ties in rather well.

I also thought that the use of props and accents went over quite well.  Especially in Don Armado's case.  It really added to the humor of it all.  Just a last thought on the setting they were all placed in.

I really liked how they revolved around the canteen for the actual set.  All transitions seemed to go really well, and they kept it very simple.  I especially liked how the mirrors were simple wooden frames.  We could all tell what they were, but with very little to help us out.  This definitely made moving them a lot easier!  And we could still see them.  That probably had a bit to do with it too. But I liked how they could just pull up or drop down a few things to make it all work, and that all the other scenes were either inside or outside of the canteen area.  It is also fun to note that I don't think the musicians ever had to move, but you never really noticed them when they weren't in the scene.  Very well done.

So, those are just a few of my impressions from the play.  It seemed to go very streamlined both in action and in going along with the original.