Romantic comedy from Shakespeare

Thursday, February 14, 2013

 

Shakespeare's "Love's Labour's Lost" at OSU

Just in time for Valentine’s Day, Oklahoma State University hosts the American Shakespeare Center’s production of the romantic comedy “Love’s Labour’s Lost” at the OSU Seretean Center Concert Hall on Friday, Feb. 15, at 8 p.m.  The pre-show begins at 7:30 p.m.

In “Love’s Labour’s Lost,” the King of Navarre and his three schoolmates are ripe for an education in love from the Princess of France and her three ladies. Joining the lovers is a brilliantly goofy troupe of clowns, including the love-warrior Don Armado and the rogue Costard, who ardently pursues the affections of a winsome country maid — and who performs an unforgettable pageant for the royals. Written around the same time as “Romeo and Juliet” and “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” this giddy and extravagant romantic comedy is Shakespeare’s most exuberant wordfest — a joyful carnival of love, loss, and hope.

ASC Co-founder and Artistic Director Jim Warren says of “Love’s Labour’s Lost,” “If you’ve seen or read other Shakespeare plays, you’ll find some familiar characters, situations, and glorious language in LLL…[and] While some of these characters and elements may seem familiar, the banquet Shakespeare gives us in LLL is also a singular feast.”

The ASC uses contemporary songs during the pre-show, intermission, and during the performance. The result is emblematic of the company’s commitment to Shakespeare's text and to the mission of connecting that text to modern audiences. In “Love’s Labour’s Lost,” the troupe sets the masque of the Muscovites to the songs of *NSync and The Backstreet Boys.

The American Shakespeare Center in Staunton, VA, recovers the joys and accessibility of Shakespeare’s theatre, language, and humanity by exploring the English Renaissance stage and its practices through performance and education. The ASC’s Blackfriars Playhouse, the world’s only re-creation of Shakespeare’s indoor theatre, is open year-round for productions of classic plays, which have been hailed by The Washington Post as "shamelessly entertaining" and by The Boston Globe as "phenomenal…bursting with energy."

Tickets are available by calling the OSU Allied Arts box office at (405) 744-7509 or by visiting alliedarts.okstate.edu.