Shakespeare Love's Labour's Lost play. Directed 2009 by Dominic Dromgoole at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, London. Stars Philip Cumbus (Ferdinand, King of Navarre), Trystan Gravelle (Berowne, a Lord), William Mannering (Longaville, a Lord), Jack Farthing (Dumaine, a Lord), Michelle Terry (The Princess of France), Thomasin Rand (Rosaline), Siân Robins-Grace (Katharine), Jade Anouka (Maria), Tom Stuart (Boyet), Paul Ready (Don Armado), Seroca Davis (Moth), Christopher Godwin (Holofernes), Patrick Godfrey (Sir Nathaniel), Andrew Vincent (Dull), Fergal McElherron (Costard), Rhiannon Oliver (Jaquenetta), and James Lailey (Mercadé) plus musicians Nicholas Perry, George Bartle, David Hatcher, Claire McIntyre, and Arngeir Hauksson. Designs by Jonathan Fensom; music composed by Claire van Kampen; choreography by Siân Williams; fight direction by Renny Krupinski; musical direction by Clair Van Kampen and Nicholas Perry. Directed for TV by Ian Russell; produced by James Whitbourn. Spoken in English with English subtitles only. Released 2010, this disc has 5.1 dts Master Audio. Grade: A
Wonk Gordon Smith's notoriously picky L'OperaDou jury gave this an A. That is an astonishing verdict considering that half of that jury usually are persons who speak French as their mother language. And this is one of Shakespeare's hardest plays with a huge amount of wordplay that was probably pretty challenging in 1595 and is much more daunting today.
Here are some Jury comments:
"The language was delivered in a wonderfully understandable, modern manner with inspired stage business to match. All in all a marvelously paced production that demanded constant but rewarded attention from the audience—worthy of repeated seeing.
"I love the dynamic acting from everyone in the cast, the energy, their ability to switch from acting to singing to dancing to mime—in other words totally rounded actors. This is total Theater!"
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