“Love’s Labours Lost” in Schimmel Theater

For hundreds of years, audiences have been awed and entranced by the theatrical works of William Shakespeare. Plays such as “Romeo and Juliet,” “Hamlet,” “Othello” and “Macbeth” have become classics in high school classrooms.

Now the time has come for University students to become just as smitten with one of Shakespeare’s greatest, yet lesser-known, earlier plays, “Love’s Labour’s Lost.”

Playing at the Michael Schimmel Center for the Arts December 9-23, the new and improved Globe Theater Company will be performing the little known work for students at the University on their tour of several American colleges.

The tour will begin officially with the University of Michigan’s University Musical Society (UMS) from October 20–25.

“Love’s Labour’s Lost” was published in 1598 and first included in Shakespeare’s comedy First Folio.

Unlike most of Shakespeare’s other comedic works, this play did not conclude with what many people of that time would consider a happy ending since the characters who fall in love do not marry.

The main plot consists of four friends, Ferdinand the King of Navarre and his three lords Berowne, Longaville and Dumaine, vowing to focus on their studies rather than love and female companionship. But when the Princess of France comes to visit the King, he must deny them access to the palace and forces her and her ladies to stay outside the castle walls.When the King and his lords go to visit the Princess and her trio of ladies, they fall in love with each other and the vow the men had made becomes much harder to honor.

But this is not the only plot line that the play follows; there are several other scenarios with various other characters that make up the story of “Love’s Labour’s Lost.”

Many believe that University students will react well to the production and that there will be a sizable audience in the Schimmel Theater opening night.

Past showings of the play by the Globe Theater Company brought more than favorable reviews.Previous comments on performances, “Love’s Labour’s Lost” by the troupe coming to the University are not at all mixed  as it’s obvious audiences love the show.

“Dominic Dromgoole’s zestful production succeeds in captivating the audience that I would not have though possible...it’s a treat,” says The Independent, a UK newspaper, of the show’s director in a review of “Love’s Labour’s Lost.”

The New York Times also commented, “With a delightful design and jaunty music it has abundant charm... Entirely enchanting.”

Aside from these two sources, The New York Times and The Independent, another UK news source, also gave rave reviews of the company and its performance.

The cast itself is composed of an amazing ensemble with actors such as Michelle Terry as the Princess of France and Philip Cumbus as Ferdinand, the King of Navarre.

Directed by Dromgoole with music composed by Claire van Kampen, the show will extend for approximately two hours and 45 minutes with a short interval in between acts.

If this group of actors does as well as it has done in past performances, Shakespeare’s work, “Love’s Labour’s Lost” should prove to be a memorable experience for all who come to witness it.

For those who are fans of Shakespeare’s work, it would be more than satisfying to see his earlier work and it would be a treat to witness a rare play of his that hasn’t been performed on any culturally popular level.