Beyond Wordplay in ‘Love’s Labour’s Lost’

Modern directors often don’t win with “Love’s Labour’s Lost.” It is Shakespeare’s first and most verbal comedy, thin on action and plot and believed to have been originally written for a small group of intellectuals rather than the public. Its abundant wordplay is heavy with rhymes, puns and references increasingly obscure to current audiences. And finally, unlike his other comedies, it doesn’t end with happy weddings for all.

Roger Rees, however, has surmounted those obstacles. He’s assembled a crackerjack cast to energize the lines, then animated the proceedings with considerable physicality and movement. The result is an “LLL” at the Old Globe Theatre that’s about as good as possible nowadays.

In the story, a spoof of pretentious pedantry, a king and three of his courtiers agree to devote three years to scholarly pursuits, which means that, during that time, they will forsake females. Then along comes a beautiful princess and three of her equally attractive attendants, and the men’s determination crumbles as they secretly woo their intendeds with long and ardent letters. After they discover each other’s deceit, they conveniently and convolutely determine that, after all, women make up an important field of study. The women, meanwhile, decide to repay their earlier rebuffs with some tricks of their own.

Along with these clever aristocrats, of course, Shakespeare includes his usual complement of buffoons, in particular an effete and obnoxious schoolmaster given to correcting others while committing numerous errors himself.

Rees has shifted the 15th century play to the Victorian era, which gives it a Wildean comedic flavor and allows costume designer Kaye Voyce to outfit the women in resplendent whites and vivid colors. Most important, however, is the acting, and the troupe is excellent from top to bottom, comfortably handling the complex script with emotive voices and natural gestures. Even nonspeaking characters stand or sit in a relaxed manner, unlike the stiffness so prevalent in productions of Shakespeare.

Noteworthy among the leads are Matt Letscher as Berowne, the most verbose of the king’s men, and Patrice Johnson as Rosaline, his counterpart among the women, who proves as proficient with archery as with verbal ripostes. Letscher, however, could lose the frequent grabs at his chest. Apparently, it’s supposed to indicate his heart bursting with love, but it looks more like acid reflux.

Tops among the secondary players are Sam Breslin Wright as a conniving messenger, who even involves the audience in a monologue, and Anderson Matthews and Bix Bettwy as an oddball nobleman and his page.

Rees has wisely altered the script to turn a pejorative “Jew” in a rhyme to “Ju-venile,” and he should have done some excising or revising in the scenes in which the men and women banter about Rosaline’s “darkness,” which Shakespeare intended as reference to her hair color. Since Johnson is African American, the extended teasing seems uncomfortably racist.

James Joy’s single but versatile set features a wooden platform framed by angled walkways amid columns with flared tops. Between the columns, panels are raised and lowered, changing the background from drab and sterile to colorful and lively, then back again. From a mid-stage trapdoor, various statues rise to indicate different locations.

Chris Parry’s lighting appropriately enhances the cool-warm-cool ambience, as does Voyce’s defining costumes. The men range from courtly elegance to aesthetic grubbiness, while the clowns’ garb is multihued, highlighted by the schoolmaster’s sienna-and-black plaid suit. Karl Mansfield contributes appropriate sounds, and the songs are by Larry Delinger.

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* “Love’s Labour’s Lost,” Old Globe Theatre, Balboa Park, San Diego. Tuesdays-Fridays, 8 p.m.; Saturdays 2 and 8 p.m.; Sundays, 2 and 7 p.m. Ends Oct. 28. $23-42. (619) 239-2255. Running time: 2 hours, 45 minutes.