Theater: Public Theater / Delacorte Theater in Central Park, New York, NY,
Synopsis:
The King of France and his best buds swear off romance and withdraw into their studies...until some girls show up. As the young couples stumble their way toward love, the others in their circle-- a pedantic school master, a Spanish dandy, a streetwise con-man, and a cop with a few screws loose-- work through their own mad dilemmas. In the end, the real world intrudes and brings everyone back to earth, but not even a cold winter blast manages to chill the warmth of this beguiling play.
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October 31, 2011: The grassy green rectangle that occupies most of the stage is considerably smaller than a football field. But it is the setting for a dangerous sport, the kind that sends its players hurtling to the ground with cranium-rattling impact. The game is love. And though it may at first feel like a mild diversion, as contact sports go, it soon becomes clear that no one is leaving the field without injuries.
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October 31, 2011: In his zany comedy “Love’s Labour’s Lost,” Shakespeare quadrupled the romance factor: There’s not one, not two, but four young couples, and they engage in four times the amount of word play, flirtation, disguises and assorted shenanigans.
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October 31, 2011: It's surprising that "Love's Labor's Lost" is not done more frequently. It's one of Shakespeare's merrier mischiefs and affords plenty of juicy roles for both young and mature actors. Whenever a Shakespearean comedy is needed on a theater's roster, the choice always seems to be "Much Ado About Nothing," "A Midsummer Night's Dream," "Twelfth Night," or "As You Like It." Yes, these works are more complex and have better name recognition, but "LLL" contains sparkling poetry and many opportunities for comic staging. Karin Coonrod's frothy production of this lesser-known work for the Public Theater's Public Lab series is an entertaining romp through Cupid's grove led by some of Off-Broadway's most talented performers.
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October 31, 2011: The four men at the heart of William Shakespeare's Love's Labor's Lost may be under the delusion that they can sequester themselves with their studies for three years, but life — and the women who also occupy it — make that impossible. Just as temptation will follow them everywhere, so will the action of Karin Coonrod's spirited but uneven production of the play at The Public Theater's Anspacher Theater, which ensures you'll know exactly how the mean feel trying to maintain their pledges of celibacy.
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November 1, 2011: Filled with rambunctiousness and antic buffoonery, Karin Coonrod's new staging of William Shakespeare's "Love's Labor's Lost", playing at the Public Theater, proves to be a genuine crowd-pleaser, delivering easy laughs through broad physical comedy. Unfortunately, the show's elegant lyricism, as well as its more bittersweet elements, are regrettably ignored.
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