Love’s Labour’s Lost, Sam Wanamaker

So this was rather a delightful experience! Never been in the Swanamaker before so it was all new - and they used the space particularly well. The lighting and extinguishing of the candles was very effective, as was the music - the acoustic is beautiful - and the way the audience was included (holding the ‘horses’ for the actors, passing around playbills for the ‘worthies’ show, etc - nothing scary for those of us who dislike ‘participation’).

There’s very much a childhood/fairytale theme. The actors gallop around on wooden toy horses, the boy Moth(?) becomes an invisible/imaginary friend of Don Armado - who plays his lines while musical tinkles and strings denote his movements, almost Tinkerbell-like - and the performances are all delightfully playful. The melancholy ending is very much marking the end of childhood.

Really enjoyed it.

Nick Bagnall, I believe.