In just a few weeks, the beauty and magic of Shakespeare's romantic comedy Love's Labour's Lost arrives at
Shakespeare & Company's
Tina Packer Playhouse for a fast-paced, hilarious and moving production delivered by long-time Company artist and director Lisa Wolpe. Featuring a cast of 16 Company favorites and new-comers, Love's Labour's Lost runs June 22-September 1. Press Opening is Saturday, June 29 at 7:30PM.
Tickets are $15-$95, and S&Co. offers a wide range of discount options, including discounts for groups, students, senior citizens, military, teachers and our very popular40% Berkshire Resident Discount. To view a complete schedule, receive a brochure, or inquire about discounts, please call the Box Office at (413) 637-3353 or visit www.Shakespeare.org. For customized group visits-which may include artist talkbacks, tours, parties and catered events-contact the Group Sales office at (413) 637-1199, ext. 132. The Tina Packer Playhouse is air-conditioned, hearing aid assisted and wheelchair accessible.
One of Shakespeare's earliest comedies, written around 1594 (in the same era asRomeo and Juliet and A Midsummer Night's Dream), Love's Labour's Lost explodes onto the boards with a burst of fresh and witty wordplay, puns, rhymes and clever allusions which fill every corner of the stage. The story follows four young noblemen of Navarre who have taken a vow to study for three years and not to see women. Suddenly, they are presented with four beautiful French women who show up at their court. Once the young scholars set eyes on the ladies of France, they flounder in the open space between reason and instinct, books and common sense, man and woman.Disguises and deception lead to a whirlwind of pranks, good intentions and broken promises. How can one create a lasting relationship while pursuing personal perfection and power? How do you educate the heart as well as the head? Lofty idealism gets derailed by love, and playful pranks give way to more serious matters that reveal the deeper responsibilities of true partnership.
"I met Lisa at one of our very first January Workshops in the early 80's and our friendship and respect for each other has never been stronger," says Artistic Director Tony Simotes. "Her dynamic vision led her to found one of America's most celebrated companies, the Los Angeles Women's Shakespeare Company. Her extraordinary courage and bold choices in her productions made her the perfect fit to realize one of Shakespeare's most delicate comedies on our stage. Never before performed on our Kemble Street property, I knew that Love's Labour's Lost required a unique voice to bring this clever and moving production to a level that would excite and entertain our discerning audiences and challenge the artists of our Company as only this award-winning director can do. Lisa's love of language and zest for life is what endears me to this amazing woman. I am proud that she has found the time to "come home" as it were and bring back to our stages her style, wit and most noble passion for Shakespeare."
Bringing in a team of eclectic and talented designers and collaborators, Wolpe setsLoves Labour's Lost against the provocative backdrop of a post-war 1940's-a time of picking up the pieces while forging new ground in women's rights and capabilities. From the workplace to an ever-expanding worldview, it was indeed one of the most memorable decades in American history-and a time when the cost of war was in the forefront of public concern. Wolpe's vision weaves together a rich and vibrant tapestry from the era including music, dance, and fashion, dipping into the depth of the story's conflict while delighting eyes and ears with an uplifting bent.Costumes are designed by Govane Lohbauer, set design is by newcomer Junghyun Georgia Lee, Lighting Design is by Matthew Adelson, Sound Design is by Alex Sovronsky, Choreography is by Susan Dibble, and Merry Conway carefully crafts the clowning and wit that is the hallmark of this great comedy.
From the Director: Shakespeare's story celebrates a lighter fable based on actual events, wherein the Protestant King Henry III of Navarre (next rightful heir to the throne of France) was embattled with the Roman Catholics in the great French wars of religion. Meanwhile, the Spanish were continually losing and gaining ground, and were uniformly despised by the English, the French, and neighboring Navarre. The Machiavellian Catherine de'Medici of France plotted in 1572 to arrange for Henry of Navarre to marry her granddaughter, Princess Marguerite Valois, in an unusual 'personal union', wherein Navarre and France would share the same monarch while their boundaries, laws, and interests remained distinct.The wedding, which took place in Paris, brought hundreds of Protestant leaders to enemy territory to celebrate and support Navarre's effort to bring peace. Days later, the Catholics ambushed and murdered not only the aristocratic Protestant leadership, but encouraged mob violence throughout France, resulting in the deaths of an estimated 30,000 - 70,000 Protestant citizens in the weeks following the wedding. The "St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre" effectively crippled the Protestant movement, forcing a great number of less-than-heartfelt religious conversions, and left an enduring legacy of distrust of the Catholics and their sometimes devious methodologies.
"I'm delighted to be invited back to Shakespeare & Company," says Wolpe, "Where I trained and taught as a young artist to now direct at the Tina Packer Playhouse. I have been contemplating the journey of the young princess in Love's Labour's Lost, who is sent by her father to marry a man who has banished all women from his court. And I imagine watching her grow into a woman and a queen before our eyes, while managing the education and evolution of her intended swain. What can Holofernes, an educated, bohemian artist, and Jaquenetta, a working woman, both banished from the court, contribute to the healing of both the men and the women of high station, bringing the battle of the sexes into a beautifully balanced and well-intentioned dance? How can Don Armado, in his quixotic quest for inclusion and valuation, find a place for himself in a world of contradictions?
Kings and clowns strive together to explore virtue and vice, commitment and conflict, learning and loss, and hopefully become better people in their time shared together. A brilliant company of actors is stepping up to lift our hearts to enter a finely crafted labyrinth of learning and laughter. I couldn't be more grateful to Tony Simotes for bringing me here to helm this project."Lisa Wolpe second season with S&Co. (Director, Love's Labour's Lost) is an actress, director, teacher, playwright and Producing Artistic Director of the Los Angeles Women's Shakespeare Company. LAWSC was named as "one of the ten coolest things to do in Los Angeles", featured on PBS, CNN, ABC, NBC, and CBS News, and won the Sustained Excellence Award from the L.A. Critics Circle. For LAWSC's 20th she will play Hamlet, co-directed by Wolpe and Natsuko Ohama. She recently played Jason inMedea/Macbeth/Cinderella and Polina in Seagull for the Oregon Shakespeare Festival.
