Love’s Labour’s Lost

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Tom returned to Guildford Shakespeare Company to direct his fifth production. Thanks to strong reviews and word of mouth, it broke all of GSC’s box office records to become their most popular summer production in over a decade.

No sooner have the King of Navarre and his friends vowed to undertake three years of study, forswearing all forms pleasure, does the beautiful Princess of France and her equally diverting friends arrive at court, throwing all scholarly devotion into chaos.

Soon the frustrations of the love-struck lords and ladies spills out into the local town, and so begins Shakespeare’s dazzling celebration of young love, bursting with colour, engrossing wit, and glorious word play. The production is set among the Bloomsbury Group in the late 1930s.

 

★★★★★ “Tom Littler deserves plenty of praise for this adaptation and also for his direction, making use of some of the natural features of the garden as well as some of the man-made ones to help keep a lively feel to the piece. The costume changes for those playing more than one role are managed so that characters come and go in such a fluid way that it seems there must be more than 10 people involved in the cast, quite an achievement with only some trees to hide behind! The whole piece is wonderfully set, lit, and performed with some excellent use of sound effects and music throughout, a great evening’s entertainment.” Link

 ★★★★ “Director Tom Littler makes confident use of the open-air performance space, his cast roaming the grounds between scenes, enriching Shakespeare’s deliciously dense wordplay with a multitude of sight gags and nonverbal interactions. An infectious sense of escalating absurdity infuses the whole production, eventually breaking with enough force to ensure that the play’s final twist feels every bit as wrenching as it should.” Link

“This is a robust, elegant and heart-breaking comedy – not to be missed.” Link

“An atmospheric setting, beautiful costumes, lovely songs, hilarious clowning and Shakespeare’s eloquent wit throughout make this performance an unmissable summer evening’s entertainment. Link

Cast

Gavin Fowler, Natasha Rickman, Matt Pinches, Sarah Gobran, James Sheldon, Robert Maskell, Paula James, Sally Cheng, Chris Porter, Elaine Claxton

Creative Team

Designer – Neil Irish

Lighting Designer – Mark Dymock

Sound Designer and Composer – Matt Eaton

Associate Director – Gabriella Bird