Love's Labour's Lost

This is the second of Water Lane Theatre Company’s picnic productions in The Monastery Gardens that I have had the pleasure of attending.  They make for a lovely evening’s entertainment and at the same time raise money for a worthy cause.  In this instance a local Hospice.

I admit to not being a fan of period drama in modern dress, so I did wonder how this particular play would lend itself to being set in the twenty first century.   Any pre-conceptions I may have had were soon dispelled as I allowed myself to be transported to the Navarre Golf and Country Club, where the action unfolds.

There were strong performances from Andy Roberts as Ferdinand who decides to forego all earthly pleasures during a period of study and from the three lords - Berowne (Sean Burke), Longaville (Doug Sheppard) and Dumaine (Adam Andrews) who also take the oath, which is of course broken with the arrival of the Princess of France and her attendant ladies.

Nancy Jones as the Princess was well cast and gave a very good performance, as did the ladies of the court. Rosaline (Lisa Turpcu), Maria (Rachel Jackson) and Katherine (Emma Pink).

Well done to Nicola Maguire for her portrayal of the comic Costard and to Corrina Graham-Hodson who gave a good performance as the wench Jacquenetta.

Paul Winspear did a great job as Don Armado. His Spanish and his skill with a golf club were impressive!  A nice performance also from Kerry Wheeler as Moth. 

The company has some excellent actors, able to turn their hand from comedies by the likes of David Croft and Jimmy Perry to those of Shakespeare, with what appears to be comparative ease.  Amanda Green gave a great characterisation of Sir Nathaniel and Granville Rush a polished performance as Holofernes.

To my mind the whole cast deserves praise for the brilliant interpretation of this Shakespeare comedy, so my apologies to those I have not named.   A special mention though for the children who were obviously enjoying being part of this production. Some new cast members in the making maybe!

Sometimes the unavoidable happens and someone has to drop out, as happened in this Saturday evening performance.  Director Richard Pink came to the rescue with script in hand and had we not been made aware, we surely would never have known that the role of Boyet was not his.

This was a very enjoyable production.  Congratulations to everyone involved and thank you for inviting me.

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