Pairing Love’s Labour’s Lost with Much Ado About Nothing is an audacious challenge, but director and adaptor Tom Littler, working with Guildford Shakespeare Company, makes a compelling case for treating the two plays as a single romantic journey. The idea of Love’s Labour’s Lost as a prequel to Much Ado About Nothing is ingenious. Berowne and Rosaline, like Benedick and Beatrice, are cut from the same cloth. Both couples are intelligent, fiercely articulate and determined not to surrender to love. Their verbal sparring, teasing and intellectual one-upmanship turn courtship into a competitive sport, while both stories involve lovers being manipulated into confronting feelings they would rather deny. The parallels are striking, and Littler’s textual stitching of the two plays is an inventive stroke. The darker aspects of both works also fit neatly together. Here, the postponement of the marriages at the end of Love’s Labour’s Lost is attributed to the outbreak of the Second World War, a bold but effective intervention that gives the play an unexpected poignancy. John Longaville/Don John’s plot against Hero is similarly linked to the psychological strain of the conflict, making his bitterness and betrayal all the more plausible. Pairing the plays in this way gives both a stronger dramatic spine, reinforcing their shared themes without sacrificing Shakespeare’s wit. James Sheldon is comic gold as Benedick and Berowne, delivering every barb with nimble timing and infectious swagger. His chemistry with Phoebe Pryce’s Beatrice is electric, their exchanges crackling with intelligence and barely concealed attraction. Matt Pinches proves equally versatile, bringing superb comic precision to Dogberry while making John Longaville/Don John genuinely sinister. Owen Oakeshott is deliciously pompous as Holofernes and wonderfully buoyant as the Prince of Navarre. The outdoor setting works beautifully as the frivolous summer afternoon of Love’s Labour’s Lost gradually gives way to the darker, though still amusing, world of Much Ado About Nothing. The shift in tone mirrors the production’s larger argument: that the games of courtship in Shakespeare’s comedies take on a very different meaning when set against the brutal realities of war. What results is a satisfying dramatic arc in which romance begins as a battle of wits before being tested by a far more literal conflict. Ultimately, the lovers emerge victorious and Shakespeare’s familiar romantic games take on a fresh emotional and historical resonance. Thanks to Littler’s ingenuity in pairing the plays, all’s well that ends well, not only for the lovers but also for the audience.
Rated: ★★★★
Reviewed by J.C.
Photo by Harry Elletson
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