“How love can vary wit”: Love’s Labour’s Lost
Explore one of Shakespeare’s earliest comedies — and the first virtual play reading in the Lantern’s new Shakespeare NOW series
William Shakespeare’s Love’s Labour’s Lost is the first reading in Lantern Theater Company’s new Shakespeare NOW program. The reading is part of Lantern Anywhere, a new series of virtual artistic programming to enlighten and entertain you during this difficult time when we cannot come together in our theater.
Love’s Labour’s Lost centers on the King of Navarre and his three noble friends. At the King’s urging, the quartet vows to spend three years studying and fasting, and to swear off the company of women for the same period. The King goes so far as to ban women from coming within a mile of court. But the arrival of the Princess of France and her attendants on state business throws the coordinated celibacy vow into disarray, as each noble meets his match and weakens his resolve. Subterfuge, disguises, misplaced letters, and mistaken identities add up to a witty comedy on the overpowering nature of love.
Love’s Labour’s Lost is one of Shakespeare’s early comedies. Most scholars believe it was written in the mid-1590s, and its first recorded performance was at Christmas in 1597 for Queen Elizabeth I. It was Shakespeare’s third comedy, following Two Gentlemen of Verona (which will be seen in an upcoming Shakespeare NOW play reading) and The Comedy of Errors. In the period of this play’s likely composition, Shakespeare was probably also working on at least three other plays, of widely varying genres: another comedy in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, a history play in Richard II, and one of his most enduring tragedies — Romeo and Juliet.
While a court-based romantic comedy might not seem immediately connected to the other plays Shakespeare was writing at the same time, the fantastical A Midsummer Night’s Dream and the tragic Romeo and Juliet examine some of the same underlying themes. In all three plays, the power of romantic love and attraction to subvert societal and governmental rules catalyzes the plot. The subsequent entanglements, confusions, and breaks power the plot. And whether that love is enough to ultimately break down societal barriers determines whether the play is a comedy or tragedy. Each play explores these issues in its own distinct way — for Love’s Labour’s Lost, it is a comedic and decidedly earthbound comedy with an unexpected ending that looks beyond the initial giddy excitements of new love.
Love’s Labour’s Lost is one of the few Shakespeare plays without an obvious source for its plot. It is, though, deeply inspired by the culture of its time. It draws generally from the contemporary literary climate, and its interest in (and satirizing of) proper methods of study, fencing, and hunting etiquette are likely inspired by behavioral treatises of the time. The series of pageants in the play mirror the common processions and entertainments meant to amuse Queen Elizabeth I, for whom the play was first performed. Finally, several characters could be mapped directly to political figures of the play’s time, who would have been familiar to Shakespeare’s audience.
Another distinguishing characteristic of the play is its linguistic achievement. The play thrives in wit, wordplay, and feats of language. Its plot is formed around the King’s value of learning, and its romantic entanglements are ignited and set right by the display — and value — of wit. And Love’s Labour’s Lost is uniquely interested in pushing the limits of language: While the Shakespeare NOW version is edited for a virtual reading, the play’s full, unedited text contains Shakespeare’s longest single scene, his longest speech, and his longest word — honorificabilitudinitatibus, which can be translated from medieval Latin to “the state of being able to achieve honors.”
This focus on language, its limits, and its possibilities has led some critics to believe Shakespeare, still a young playwright at its creation, was explicitly examining and learning his craft as he wrote the play. Eminent Shakespeare scholar Harold Bloom calls it a success for the young writer, anointing Love’s Labour’s Lost as Shakespeare’s “first absolute achievement.” For our modern audience, it is a fascinating opportunity to dig into one of Shakespeare’s lesser-performed masterworks from the comfort of home.
Lantern Theater Company’s virtual reading of Love’s Labour’s Lost is scheduled for Friday, April 24 at 7:30pm, as part of our new Shakespeare NOW program. Registration is FREE, but advance registration is required. Hurry, capacity is limited!
