Love’s Labour’s Lost

Published Thursday 9 October 2008 at 11:30 by Susan Elkin

Rarely have I laughed so much during the “two hours traffic” of a Shakespeare play as during this fresh and feisty revival. At top speed, the pace never flagging, Gregory Doran gives you rap, stick dancing, deliciously filthy jokes, Russian dancing, an absurd elephant puppet, a dancing bear and, of course, a sober ending lit with lamps of hope.

Navarre, which glitters prettily and leafily, is mirrored on the Courtyard’s thrust which visually doubles the playing space - peopled with Katrina Lindsay’s sumptuously creamy silk and damask costumes - nicely contrasted with the autumnal hues of the non-courtiers.

There are some outstanding performances. Joe Dixon gets a laugh from almost every word he speaks as the ridiculous Don Adriano de Amardo - a cross between Malvolio and Morocco, but potentially funnier than either. Oliver Ford Davies is a hilarious Holofernes, having fun with all that verbiage and ogling Jaquenetta’s (Riann Steele) bosom.

But the evening really belongs to the mercurial David Tennant, whose Berowne winks at the audience, singles out people in the front row to make jokes from, climbs trees, presents an extraordinary range of facial gestures, is an outstanding stage presence and master of comic timing. Then, at the end when the mood darkens, he acquires a compelling, moving stillness.

If you want an escape from the doom and gloom of current real-life news, then look no further than this entertaining piece of theatre.