Writers spice up the Bard’s Love’s Labour’s Lost comedy for Scarborough's Stephen Joseph Theatre
Rehearsals are under way for a vibrant new adaptation of one of Shakespeare’s most popular comedies, Love’s Labour’s Lost (more or less) – a co-production between Scarborough’s Stephen Joseph Theatre and Prescot’s Shakespeare North Playhouse.
Thomas Cotran, Alice Imelda, Linford Johnson, David Kirkbride, Annie Kirkman, Alyce Liburd, Timothy Adam Lucas and Jo Patmore are directed by Paul Robinson in this 1990s Ibiza-set version of Love’s Labour’s Lost.
It features belting musical numbers from the era of boy bands and Girl Power, and adapted from Shakespeare’s original by Elizabeth Godber and Nick Lane.
A stag do in Ibiza. A hen do in Menorca. What could go wrong? The stags have made a solemn promise to each other: this is a boys’ weekend. Don’t talk to any girls, don’t even think about any girls and most importantly, do not contact the hens.
The hens are ready for fun in the sun when the resort calls to say they’ve had to relocate them – to a hotel in Ibiza. Cue: shoddy disguises, mislaid love letters and theatrical chaos.
Co-writer Elizabeth Godber said: “I’m so excited to be back working with Nick, the Stephen Joseh and Shakespeare North on another hilarious Shakespeare adaptation.
Love's Labour's Lost is one of my favourite Shakespeare plays, and to get the chance to play around with the language, develop the already great female characters and add in plenty of 1990s pop classics has been an absolute joy.
"I can’t wait for audiences to come and see the show. It's funny, irreverent, and I'm sure Shakespeare would approve – he would have definitely been a Britpop fan.”
The associate director is Chantell Walker, the composer and sound designer is Simon Slater and the musical director is Alex Weatherhill.
Director Paul Robinson, who is artistic director at the Stephen Joseph Theatre, said: “We had the most enormous fun making The Comedy of Errors (more or less) in the spring of 2023, and our audiences did too.
“We couldn’t resist following it up with another of the Bard’s early comedies, this time set a decade later in the midst of the party era that was the 1990s. We’ll again be including some great music from the period, and just wait until you see those 90s fashions again…”
Love’s Labour’s Lost (more or less) can be seen at Shakespeare North Playhouse from Friday February 28 to Saturday March 22 and at the Stephen Joseph Theatre from Thursday March27 to Saturday April 19.
Tickets are available from the Shakespeare North Playhouse box office on 0151 433 7156 and online at www.shakespearenorthplayhouse.co.uk and from the Stephen Joseph Theatre box office on 01723 370541 and online at www.sjt.uk.com