LOVE'S LABOUR'S LOST (MORE OR LESS) Comes to Stephen Joseph Theatre and Shakespeare North Playhous

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, featuring 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 says: “I'm so excited to be back working with Nick, the SJT 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!”

 

Love's Labour's Lost (more or less) is designed by Jess Curtis, with lighting design by Jane Lalljee. The associate director is Chantell Walker, the composer and sound designer is Simon Slater, and the musical director is Alex Weatherhill. The choregrapher is Stephanie Dattani. The wardrobe supervisor is Julia Perry-Mook, and the scenic artist is Julia Wray. Casting is by Sarah Hughes CDG.

 

Director Paul Robinson, who is Artistic Director at the Stephen Joseph Theatre, says: “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…”

 

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