Love's Labour's Lost

' Love's Labour's Lost ' is in my opinion an underrated play. For me it is Shakespeare at his best, and despite the garden setting of this fine production the death of love as well as the love of love go hand in hand. Praise has been given to Jeremy Brett is well deserved, but so is the rest of the cast. This film version flows, and unlike the confinement of a stage breathes more easily and there are no stagey gimmicks and movement is all, as if life itself is eternal and will last forever. In this place the arrival of a messenger bringing death into the garden comes as a shock, and the bitter sweet flavour of the play is accentuated. Will the men be faithful once the women are gone ? Will a lasting night fall on their relationships ? A great play and a production that many 21st C directors could learn from.

The beautiful garden setting in Glyndebourne definitely helps--this is NOT a stage play! Of course, Jeremy Brett's sensuality helps, too! Berowne is the main character in this play, but only Brett could put that much soul in it! I thoroughly enjoyed this production of Love's Labour's Lost. I know that some of Shakespeare's dialog has been cut, but I don't think I've ever seen ANY Shakespeare play that wasn't hacked up! It didn't hurt this one. In the play, 4 high-minded men decide to swear off women for 3 years, but then they are blind-sided by 4 beautiful women, fall instantly in love, and go through all the agonies of courtship. Lots of fun!

It's not that the others are bad. It's just that he just leaps off the screen.

Even just what he says, is so much easier to hear and understand than anyone else. And yes, I love Shakespeare, historical re-enactments, renaissance fairs, you name it....

And how many grown men look this fantastic in tights and a doublet?

As he quoted Sir Olivier, as saying " have the body of a God, and the voice of a full orchestra. And quotations.

Sir Laurence Olivier: check and double check

Jeremy Brett: oh my goodness, yes, oh my goodness yes!

I could go on, but I'll spare you. Just go listen to it, even if you need to fast forward through some other scenes from the 'B' plot.