Review by Raphael Kohn
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
A new dawn has risen at the RSC. New Artistic Directors, Daniel Evans and Tamara Harvey, open their first season. A huge star, known to many for his role as Benedict in Bridgerton, makes his RSC debut. The Royal Shakespeare Theatre is awash with sunshine as one of Shakespeare’s earlier comedies, Love Labour’s Lost, is transported to a pacific private island. It could potentially be a risk. Thankfully, it’s a roaring triumph – if it’s a sign of things to come for the RSC, then a brilliant sign it is.
It's one of Shakespeare’s simpler plays – co-artistic director Daniel Evans was enthusiastically telling me before the show how the text feels like the work of a talented playwright in his younger years. He’s not wrong. We have less in the way of convoluted plot lines, and more puns, clever lines and carefully crafted humour in this one than in other Shakespeare comedies. We find ourselves in the court of Navarre, in which the king and his lords swear an oath of fasting and abstinence from women for three years (and subsequently fail at keeping their oath). As each lord fails, and decides to abandon their oath in favour of pursuing love, chaos unfolds.
Those who frequent the RSC will know by now that very rarely do we get anything in the way of a ‘traditional’ production there. Here in Navarre, we are transported to a modern-day pacific private island on which tech-bro, silicon valley-esque CEOs retreat from the world, stowing their phones away and hiding from the world. Director Emily Burns infuses her production with slapstick, camp humour, which in moments risks being too much, but is almost always a welcome, clever touch.
Similarly, Burns updates and refines Shakespeare’s text to the modern day, with new quips and jokes effortlessly integrating into the 400-year-old text. I’ve seen many a Shakespeare production try to bring in modernised lines, of which only some succeed, and some make me utterly cringe, but this one is so carefully done, so intelligently studied and meticulously updated, it practically feels as if Shakespeare wrote the lines himself. Which he didn’t, as far as I’m aware, when it comes to the line ‘I’ve buggered that right up’, spoken by the effortlessly camp and brilliantly humorous Nathan Foad as Costard. And while one wonders if Burns could have cut it down any further – the almost 3 hour running time including interval does risk being ever slightly too long – it’s still a remarkably brilliant update fit for the 21st century.
And so, any semblance of a traditional ‘Navarre’ is lost as a stunning set reveal transports us to designer Joanna Scotcher’s grassy, stony, wooden world. Lit by gorgeous LED bars hidden around the rims of the revolving set, it’s a polished, luxurious, and gorgeously exuberant world to feast your eyes upon. Likewise, Paul Englishby’s joyful, fun soundtrack immerses us brilliantly into the pacific Navarre.
It's not only beautifully made, but beautifully performed too. This is one of the finest ensembles I’ve seen on the stage of the RSC, who not only are strong individual performers, but work wonderfully together as a group. Which is good news for this play, which never feels like it has one big main star, and instead has a collection of parts, all of whom have their own time to shine without one thrust into the limelight much more than any other.
The big name on the posters is Luke Thompson, star of Bridgerton and recently seen in A Little Life. And he deserves every accolade thrown at him. He is an absolute natural with Shakespeare, speaking the verse as if it were written by himself, absorbing himself in the role of Berowne and delivering a practically perfect performance.
But he has brilliant co-stars to bounce off. His chemistry with King Ferdinand (Abiola Owokoniran), and lords Longaville (Eric Stroud) and Dumaine (Brandon Bassir) is theatrical heaven. One scene of them each hiding from each other to discover each one of them is breaking their oath, finding themselves hidden in increasingly ridiculous places as Scotcher’s set revolves around, is a marvel, wonderfully choreographed and timed to perfection.
We get some sincerity from the princess (Melanie-Joyce Bermudez) who takes the edge off the comedy slightly in her more serious role, but she is also surrounded by her selfie-snapping friends, played by Ioanna Kimbook, Amy Griffiths and Sarita Gabony. As an antidote to the chaos of the King and his Lords, they are magnificent.
Probably the funniest of all is the previously-mentioned Nathan Foad as Costard, with his delightfully camp portrayal of his part, with not much given to him by Shakespeare but every moment made the absolute most of. Often the prime interjector of Burns’ modernisations, strutting around in a dressing gown, it’s hard to imagine anyone playing the role better.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – this bodes not just well, but brilliantly, for Daniel Evans and Tamara Harvey’s future as co-Artistic Directors at the RSC. It’s joyous, it’s fun, and it’s just what we need in a Shakespeare producing company for the 21st century. Frankly, my only real gripe is that they’re only running this production for 5 weeks before it closes, which is far too short. So take a trip down to Navarre this Spring. You won’t regret it.
Love’s Labour’s Lost plays until 18 May 2024. Tickets from https://www.rsc.org.uk/loves-labours-lost/
Photos by Johan Persson