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New Moon is nothing if not an international advertisement for the hungry virtues of virginity and young people can’t get enough of it
The Twilight Saga: New Moon
Theatre
A smart, prickly and rewarding view of sexual and emotional confusion
Cock
Restaurants
Kitchen W8 is a bargain for this area, if such sophistication is what you crave
Kitchen W8
Too long and drawn out but very entertaining with excellent special effects
This is a peculiar play and does not work for me. Some of it is very funny but there are real flaws
Alex has a strong powerful voice and was faultless, she is far better now than she was on the X-Factor
London,
Nicholas de Jongh's rating
Reader rating
Out on a limb: David Tennant as Berowne with, from left, Kathryn Drysdale (Katherine), Mariah Gale (Princess of Paris), Nina Sosanya (Rosaline) and Natalie Walter (Maria)
New challenge: Tennant made a better Hamlet
Having been drenched in critics’ superlatives for his Stratford Hamlet and having caused several stampedes of teenagers at the box office, David Tennant now takes on a riskier proposition by trying his hand at one of Shakespeare’s least rewarding comedies. What an anti-climax it proves! That a subdued Tennant makes a merely charming impression on Love’s Labour’s Lost is to be blamed on an uninspired production of broad brush-strokes by Gregory Doran, and the actor’s apparent reluctance to engage or identify strongly with his character.
Berowne is one of a youthful trio of lords in the King of Navarre’s aristocratic entourage who rashly agree to join the monarch in giving up the pursuit of women for three years. The men will spend the time playing at academic study. Tennant’s role offers dramatic-comical opportunities, but not many. It needs an actor with a flair for both the lyrical-romantic and practical-sardonic realism and I’m not sure that’s where Tennant’s gifts lie.
Equipped with an irrelevant Scottish accent and dressed in a fancy, blue doublet while the rest of the court is dressed in splendid Elizabethan cream, Tennant dominates by height, elegance and nonchalant aloofness. But he does not make that much of Berowne in love or of his wit. He shows no great talent for self-mockery and worldly cynicism once the king and his lords have broken their vows and respectively set their hearts on pursuing Mariah Gale’s oddly prim, joyless Princess of Paris and her three supporting ladies.
Love’s Labour’s Lost always throws down challenges for a director. It’s a comedy about language and understanding and yet is itself frequently hard to understand. The amusement springs from the way its characters speak — either to express themselves or to enjoy the sound of their own voices. Doran settles for a style of heavy-handed burlesque that went down well with the first night audience but not with me: the lords strike up ridiculous attitudes when disguised as bearded Muscovites to deceive their lovers. Similarly, Zoe Thorne turns Moth from bright, little boy into an exhibitionist girl.
Francis O’Connor’s non-realistic set with its mirrored floor and back-wall, as if to suggest how self-absorbed these characters are, is dominated by a huge gnarled tree: its branches decorated with triangular shapes on wires. A set of strange people wander through this fantasy world, the funniest of them being Oliver Ford Davies’s pedantic, desiccated schoolmaster, Holofernes, who regards words as meaningless things to be rolled and savoured on the tongue with a wine-taster’s pretentious relish. He smacks of realism. By contrast Joe Dixon’s Don Adriano de Armado, a Spanish knight with a wax moustache, purple costume and feathered hat strikes grand pantomimic attitudes.
The best productions infuse the play with a sense of love sought, fought for and passionately achieved in the high summer of youth before the shadows gather. It is not so here. Doran’s production makes Love’s Labour’s Lost into a hustle and bustle of stand-up comedians putting on a show.
Details are correct at the time of publication - please check with venue before booking.
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The production is awsome! I totally disagree with the reviewer, i think that Greg Doran made a poor play into a fantastic production. The costumes were beautiful, the set was spectacular and Tennant was outstanding!!!
Go watch it again, and marvel at its comic inventivness, TENNANT ROCKS!!
- Emma, Uk, worcestershire
Have you completely lost your mind? What play were YOU watching?? To say this review misses the mark is a gross understatement!
Love's Labour's Lost sparkles with wit, charm, and personality. The audience--at least those who actually paid attention--LOVED this production, myself very much included! It is absolutely wonderful, and David plays Berowne as if the part were tailor-made for him.
I saw this play five times in one week, and I can assure you that it is an ensemble effort where all the cast members make for a thoroughly entertaining night at the theatre. I have never had so much fun at the theatre!
Trust me, all you regular folks out there: go see this play. It is phenomenal, as is every cast member in it. It was very well worth my trip, and it will be well worth yours, too. I promise.
- Lisa, Virginia, USA
this man jongh is an idiot as it helps to be awake to review a show. he looks like a damaged dwarf and should stay awake during the show.I was watching you, you ugly man. It's an insult to the actors. or get another job
- M Ash, uk
Um - as David Tennant is scottish I would expect him to have a relevant scottish accent as opposed to a irrelevant one - duh
- Elle, London
