Shakespeare: Love's Labour's Lost (Royal Shakespeare Company)

Sam Alexande (King of Navarre); Peter Basham (Butler); William Belchambers (Longaville); Edward Bennett (Berowne); Nick Haverson (Costard); Emma Manton (Jaquenetta); John Hodgkinson (Don Armado); Tunji Kasim (Dumaine); Sophie Khan Levy (Housemaid); Oliver Lynes (Footman); Chris McCalphy (Dull); Peter McGovern (Moth);

Summer 1914. In order to dedicate themselves to a life of study, the King and his friends take an oath to avoid the company of women for three years. No sooner have they made their idealistic pledge than the Princess of France and her ladies-inwaiting arrive, presenting the men with a severe test of their high-minded resolve.

Shakespeare's sparkling comedy delights in championing and then unravelling an unrealistic vow, and mischievously suggesting that the study of the opposite sex is in fact the highest of all academic endeavours.

Reviews

"This is the most blissfully entertaining and emotionally involving RSC offering I’ve seen in ages." (The Daily Telegraph ★★★★★)

"This is, in its entirety, an endeavour that sings: poignant, impassioned and gorgeous ... Brilliantly comic…extraordinarily powerful." (The Times ★★★★★)

"A marvel…immaculately co-ordinated." (The Daily Mail ★★★★★)

"These productions are a joy…Edward Bennett and Michelle Terry make a splendid pairing." (The Sunday Times ★★★★)

"This imaginative pairing makes total sense. If love is thwarted in the first play, it is triumphantly fulfilled in the second." (The Guardian ★★★★)

"Everything about Edward Bennett's winning performance as Berowne, applies also to his Benedick … Michelle Terry's Beatrice navigates the character's acerbity, melancholy and romantic insecurity with a mastery far beyond even her accustomed brilliance; this is a star-making performance." (The Financial Times ★★★★)

"Exquisite… Cherishable… Immaculate" (The Evening Standard ★★★★)