Four young noblemen absent themselves from society, in order to focus entirely on their studies.
They even take a monastic oath: No girls! All books! But when the Princess of France turns up with three young ladies, how long will
the men’s resolve hold up? Director Amanda Dehnert (2017’s PRIDE AND PREJUDICE) infuses Shakespeare’s delightful comedy
with an original pop/rock score (by Dehnert and Andre Pleuss) that gives full voice to the heart-pounding experience of being young and in love.
Explore the Story
Story
In LOVE’S LABOR’S LOST, the comedy centers on four young men who fall in love against their wills. The men, one of them the king of Navarre, pledge to study for three years, avoiding all contact with women. When the Princess of France arrives on a state visit, the king insists she and her ladies camp outside the court. Even so, each young man falls in love with one of the ladies.
Meanwhile, Don Armado, a Spanish soldier, falls for a servant girl, Jacquenetta. Costard, an illiterate local, mixes up two letters he is to deliver, one from Armado to Jacquenetta and the other from Berowne, one of the king’s companions, to Rosaline, one of the French ladies.
The men confess they are in love, and devise a pageant for the ladies, who set a trap for them by exchanging identifying markers. When word comes that the princess’s father is dead, the ladies reject the men’s proposals as rash and impose a year’s delay before any further wooing.
Summary Courtesy of Folger Shakespeare Library.
Let us once lose our oaths to find ourselves, Or else we lose ourselves to keep our oaths.
Lord Berowne, Love's Labor's Lost
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