Love's Labor's Lost

Love’s Labor’s Lost contains the occasional bawdy innuendo. It is suitable for middle and high school students who can handle the intricacies of the language and the sensual nature of the comedy.

The Allen Elizabethan Theatre is outfitted with an elevator for balcony seating.

The Oregon Shakespeare Festival is committed to accessibility. We recognize the needs of persons with disabilities and strive to make our facilities and productions accessible to all. OSF offers a variety of accommodations, outlined here.

El amor se burla de los altos ideales y echa para abajo a las barreras en esta encantadora y lingüísticamente ágil comedia llena de música y dirigida por Amanda Dehnert, directora maestra con tenencia en los escenarios de OSF (En el bosque, Mi bella dama). La Princesa de Francia y sus damas han elegido un incómodo momento para visitar Navarra. No se admite a ninguna mujer a la corte porque el Rey Ferdinand y sus amigos se han dedicado a tres años de estudio, contemplación y castidad. Sin refrenarse, las damas se han instalado fuera de las puertas y no se demora la naturaleza en seguir su curso tanto adentro como afuera de las paredes del palacio, con una revelación inesperada al último.

El desarrollo de El trabajo perdido del amor es apoyado por una dotación de la James F. and Marion L. Miller Foundation.

El trabajo perdido del amor presenta algunas insinuaciones obscenas. Sin embargo, es idónea para los estudiantes de secundaria y preparatoria que puedan manejar las complicaciones del idioma y la naturaleza sensual de la comedia.

El Allen Elizabethan Theatre cuenta con elevador para los asientos de balcón.

El Oregon Shakespeare Festival se compromete a la accesibilidad. Reconocemos a las necesidades de los patrones con discapacidades y nos esforzamos a asegurar que nuestras instalaciones y producciones les sean accesibles a todos. OSF ofrece una variedad de acomodaciones, aquí descritas here.

After the king and his three friends recover from their Russian masquerade fiasco, Costard comes in to announce an impromptu pageant of the Nine Worthies. The king worries the pageant will shame them anew in front of the ladies, but Berowne reminds him that it is “some policy to have one show worse than the king’s and his company.”

Who are the Nine Worthies? In 1312, Jacques de Longuyon in his epic poem “Les Voeux du paon” (“The Vows of the Peacock”) described nine of the world’s most valiant warriors, each embodying the rules of chivalry. De Longuyon chose three men from three groups:

• Pagan: Hector, Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar
• Jewish: Joshua, David, Judas Maccabeus
• Christian: King Arthur, Charlemagne, Godfrey of Bouillon

The Nine Worthies skit in Love’s Labor’s Lost contains two not on the original list: Hercules and Pompey the Great. The members of this motley group of comic relief take turns play­ing the various Worthies:

• Pompey the Great, who was part of the Roman military political alliance known as the First Triumvirate.
• Alexander the Great, the empire builder and commander.
• Hercules, a Roman mythological hero.
• Judas Maccabeus, a great warrior in Jewish history.
• Hector of Troy, the greatest fighter in the Trojan War.

But for all the royals’ talk about devoting three years to study of the ancients, when the men are faced with some of the most famous ancients, there is little respect—even civility—for them or the actors play­ing them. As in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, when the royals mock the rustics’ Pyramus and Thisbe masque, these gents interrupt and mercilessly skewer the Worthies on an artistic as well as personal level.

Holofernes exits, saying, “This is not generous, not gentle, not humble.”

The audience doesn’t get to see the end of their show. An emissary from France arrives with some life-changing news, and suddenly, the party’s over. 

—Catherine Foster 

Reprinted from OSF’s 2018 Illuminations, a 64-page guide to the season’s plays. Members at the Donor level and above and teachers who bring school groups to OSF receive a free copy of Illuminations.