At the Kingston Rose
Truth be told, I was a bit nervous about this.
Love's Labour's
Lost is hardly a crowd-pulling piece to start Kingston Rose on its self-producing
role. Perhaps that is unfair, as Love's Labour's Lost is largely unknown; I
certainly haven't seen it before and had simply heard it was a very wordy
comedy. And the 'star' was Peter Bowles.... On the positive side, it was a Peter
Hall production and it did feature several members of his Bath Theatre who I had
seen in The Dolls House.
And so we enter the world of Navarre where four young men, one a king
the other nobles, commit themselves to three years of women-free study, for
knowledge, education and the arts. Only one is dubious, Finbar Lynch's sprightly
Berowne, a quick-witted, mischievous imp who has no intention of being tied to
an oath. And needless to say once the oath is made, everything conspires against
these earnest but naive young men. The problem is the arrival of Rachel Pickup
as the King of
France's daughter, on a diplomatic mission, surrounded by her ladies.
Conveniently each of the men falls for a different woman, and attempts t
o woe
them. So how do we get Peter Bowles into this? He plays an aging Spanish
braggart, Don Adriano de Armado who has clearly fallen on hard times, and fallen in love with the statuesque Jaquenetta, a luscious dairymaid played splendidly by Ella Smith, just out of
playing Fat Pig in the West End. His camp page Moth (read that carefully,
but I think I have got he words in the right order!) is hysterically
played by Kevin Trainor, and there is yet more comic relief from a 'pedantic
schoolmaster and his curate (William Chubb and Paul Bentall). These
pseudo-intellectuals, bandying about their bad Latin and making up roman
epigrams to the bemusement of the locals in the manner of time-warped Stephen
Fry was worth the cost of entry alone. The final comedy is provided by Greg
Haisste's Costard, who plays a sort of everyman peasant with great clowning
skill.
Played in traditional dress on the open stage with minimal scenery, the cast seem to have found the way to use the space. You did get the feeling that this was Shakespeare as the playwright would have intended it. The mechanics of the theatre are slowly settling in; the house lights, ushers and programme selling all working more smoothly now, and the cafe/bar warm and friendly. And not expensive! A bottle of decent wine for £6 - a bit cheaper than the National!
Love's Labour's Lost is wordy, but hilariously, gloriously so. The words
pour out, all wit and puzzle and cleverness. The only problem with not knowing
the play was the difficulty of keeping up with the torrent of words
flowing off the stage. All the exchanges are razor sharp and delivered at pace.
The great advantage of having Peter Hall direct a Shakespeare is that the cast
will read well, and they do. Superbly. I couldn't fault a single member for
their acting or reading, and the play
ing unleashes some splendid writing. For all that
this is a light comedy of love, full of foolishness and light hearted
jocularity, there is a slightly harder edge. The ladies are not amused at the
gentlemen breaking their pledges. If you cannot keep one oath, of what use are
your pledges of love? They never really come up with a response. And as the play
ends in unexpected seriousness with the news of the King's death, the young lovers are mellowed, chastened and
matured by their encounter. They haven't failed as such, but all have to climb
to new heights. The laughter of their pledges is long forgotten after their
encounter with the world and women.
A superb cast, lovely production, excellent translation and thoroughly excellent evening. Highly recommended in all aspects. And running until November 15th.
www.rosetheatrekingston.org
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