The Curtain Theater opened its 26th year of producing free Shakespeare in the Park in Mill Valley with one of the Bard’s less-frequently performed comedies.
Its production of Love’s Labour’s Lost runs weekends in the Old Mill Park Amphitheatre through Labor Day Monday, Sept. 7.
The play centers on the King of Navarre (Euan Ashley) and his three friends, Dumaine (Thomas Hutchinson), Longaville (Thomas Peterson) and the sharp-tongued Berowne (D.G. Hardy), who have taken a vow to abstain from even looking at women in order to hone their minds.
Trouble arrives immediately when the Princess of France (Alexandra Fry), along with her ladies-in-waiting Katherine (Arya Safavi), Maria (Faryn Thomure) and Rosaline (Rachek Ka’iulani Kennealy), show up.
A lot of local talent is on stage. Director Doyle Ott made a good choice casting real-life partners Hardy and Kennealy as the main love interests. Each a strong actor in their own right, together they bring not only charisma and talent, but a sense of control to the action. No matter how zany the antics get, Hardy and Kennealy can be counted on to ground the scene and keep the plot moving forward.
David Cole as the havoc-causing clown, Abigail Wissink as the long-suffering page and Dominic Marco Canty as the foppish Don Adriano de Armado provide other noteworthy performances.
Set designer Steve Coleman has produced an opulently pretty fairytale frame which showcases both the show and the gorgeous redwoods surrounding the stage. Costumer Robert Horek’s design is lush, and the difference between his costuming of Armado vs. the functionality of Berowne’s costuming is a striking example of helping the actor tell the story rather than just dressing the actor.
Also, the four-piece ensemble, under the musical direction of Don Clark, was excellent.
Unfortunately, the play rarely shows for a reason. To begin with it’s the second longest of Shakespeare’s comedies, with this production clocking in just shy of two and a half hours. Secondly, the plot is essentially inconsequential—thus the title. Third, at its core it’s a 500-year-old inside joke about the pedantry of Elizabethan writers, which is great if one’s thesis revolved around 16th-century roasts, but somewhat less intelligible to the rest of us.
Truth be told, like pumpkin pants, cod pieces and the plague, some parts of Elizabethan life are best left to the past, and an unadapted Love’s Labour’s Lost might be one of them.
‘Love’s Labour’s Lost’ runs Saturday and Sunday and Labor Day Monday through Sept. 7 at the Old Mill Park Amphitheater, 352 Throckmorton Ave., Mill Valley. All shows 2pm. Free. Donations graciously accepted. curtaintheatre.org
