A review from an audience member -

“Love’s Labours Lost- a True Win"
Devin Harris
August 3, 2007

I’ve been attending the Bridgeport Free Shakespeare productions for as long as I remember.  It’s something my family and I look forward to every year, a tradition; a pinnacle summer event.  We eagerly await the news for the year’s happenings- what play, what day, what time- and make sure to be the first there on opening night.  We pack a picnic dinner, grab a front row seat at the Beardsley Zoo’s Peacock Pavilion, and enjoy a night of wonderful Shakespearian performance.

Now, the name of the company may have changed, but the quality has not.  This year’s performance of Love’s Labours Lost was a big winner!

 I have to give the producers credit where credit is do for adjusting the play to fit the early 1960’s.  The Kingdom of Navarre became Navarre University; the King and his men become the Kappa fraternity, their forbidden lovers the Zeta sorority.  The majestic Spanish swordsman, Don Adriano de Armado, becomes a passionate exchange student; his friend, the mocking Costard, plays the role of a rakish janitor.  They figured in many traits of the time, from the Kappa fraternity dressing up as a group of Elvis impersonators to woo the Zetas, to the pageant becoming a costume party where the college students masquerade as Marilyn Monroe and John Wayne.

Love’s Labours Lost was a comedy if I’ve ever seen one- not only was their Shakespeare’s own humorous writing, but the downright hilarious touches thrown in by the actors themselves.  One of my favorite comedic scenes takes place as the Kappa’s pages (or in this case, pledges) attempt to capture the attention of the indifferent Zetas, only to have the girls (literally) turn their backs to the boys’ ventures: “The fairest creatures to ever turn their backs-” “It’s turn their eyes!” “I can’t see their eyes!”

The actors threw themselves into the comedic parts wholeheartedly.  I was in stitches for most of the performance!  But this is not a rare occurrence; the actors carry the mood of the play throughout every line, conveying not only hilarity, but romance, pride, struggle, scorn- and a truly bittersweet end.

Congratulations, Connecticut Free Shakespeare!  Another year, another fantastic performance.  Five out of five stars, courtesy of one of your biggest fans.