"LOVE’S LABOR’S LOST" at Chicago Shakespeare Theater
BY LUCIA MAURO
"Love’s Labor’s Lost" may not be William Shakespeare’s most emotionally satisfying or thematically subtle plays. It’s also troubling that the Bard nearly trips over his own obviously overlapping double entendres. But this romantic comedy about the necessary labor required of love and the possible loss of love altogether (sorry – the word play is contagious) can still resonate for modern audiences.
This rarely produced work still cries out for judicious cuts – especially the clownish subplots that go off on several unfulfilling tangents. The flamboyant Spaniard Don Adriano de Armado and his sassy but dim peasant love interest Jaquenetta are nothing more than devices to orchestrate an accidental switching of love letters. The play also needs a razor-sharp streamlining of its core message, which centers on the sacrifices and unwavering commitment that accompany the bliss of long-term relationships. Otherwise, "Love’s Labor’s Lost" can become an incoherent hodgepodge of Elizabethan conventions.
Unfortunately, director Barbara Gaines’ tonally imbalanced production for Chicago Shakespeare Theater magnifies the play’s inconsistencies. Only a handful of actors speak the excessive wit- and word play-encumbered lines with fluidity and truthful ease. Michael Philippi’s initial sigh-inducing foliage-bathed set, spectacularly lit by Robert Perry to carry us through the seasons’ operatic mood swings, ultimately distracts us from the story and diminishes in appeal as the production creaks toward three hours.
The symmetrical plot posits the King of Navarre and his three courtiers against the Princess of France and her three ladies-in-waiting. Just as the men have sworn an oath to avoid – for three years -- worldly pleasure in order to concentrate on their studies, the royal entourage arrives. Unable to control their amorous instincts, the men secretly try to woo their ladies – only to have an unexpected reversal by the clever women put their love to a deeper test. Then a darker thread of death intervenes at the end to reaffirm love’s delicate waltz between seduction and solemnity.
But Shakespeare clutters the play with a series of non-revelatory Fools: the bungling Costard; his pompously delusional master Don Adriano; cocky young page Moth; Jaquenetta (the ill-defined coquette); scholarly caricatures, Nathaniel and Holofernes; and the aptly named Constable Dull. These unwieldy characters muddle the central action of the play. And, in this unfocused staging, they seem to have wandered in from another play altogether.
CST’s production vacillates between light and florid and deadly boring. Entire scenes are easy to tune out, especially when the actors speak above or outside their lines – causing the iambic pentameter to go through most audience’s heads (or just loll them to sleep). Only Karen Aldridge as the Princess of France finds the natural human rhythms in her lines and frees them of antiquated obscurity. One would think she was born speaking Elizabethan English. Plus Aldridge adds gravity to a production heavily swathed in frills and jocularity.
Kate Fry as the emboldened Rosaline and Timothy Gregory as her rebellious suitor Berowne are on par with Aldridge – but add more of a musical staccato energy to their words (a lovely balance). Gregory captures the bittersweet spirit of the play in his tear-inspiring speech that closes the first half. On a side note, Gregory’s literal costuming (open shirts and undone ties vs. his fellow courtiers’ impeccably buttoned-up attire) is a distressing example of overly literal design.
Other fine performances include Timothy Edward Kane as the solid yet vulnerable King of Navarre and Paul Slade Smith, who should win an award for endowing the tedious Holofernes with a blisteringly funny cerebral energy. But Lusia Strus, one of Chicago’s most engaging and powerful actresses, is sadly reduced to an orgasmic twit in the poorly directed role of Jaquenetta.
Gaines’ lavish embellishments – including an on-stage string quartet, Philippi’s sets that feature dainty boats floating up to the King’s pillar-lined villa exploding with flowers, and costume designer Virgil Johnson’s cornucopia of colors and textures mirroring pre World War I high society – cannot compensate for the production’s lack of engaging purpose. The design, no matter how impressive, does not provide us with added insights into why this play is important for our times – one of the production’s major flaws.
In fact, during the play-within-a-play segment, where Pompey and Alexander appear in jangling armor forged out of cookware, one may conclude that Gaines took Holofernes’ words to an overblown visual level: "He draweth out the thread of his verbosity."
Considering the long-winded nature of "Love’s Labor’s Lost," the thought of eye candy overload is enough to send one into a diabetic coma.•
"Love’s Labor’s Lost" runs through November 17 at Chicago Shakespeare Theater on Navy Pier, 800 E. Grand Ave. Tickets: $48-$58. Call 312-595-5600 or log onto www.chicagoshakes.com.
