`Love`s Labour`s Lost` is entertaining

`Love`s Labour`s Lost`is an energetic and well-acted play.

New York: ‘Love`s Labour`s Lost’ is one of Shakespeare`s more complicated comedies, full of obscure literary references, wit and puns that could be confusing to a modern audience.Yet the lively, Elizabethan-style production currently at Pace University, who has partnered with Shakespeare`s Globe Theatre of London, is so energetic and well-acted that its appeal transcends any possible issues of language.

As directed by Dominic Dromgoole, the physical comedy in this lighthearted interpretation almost never stops. At a preview performance, audience laughter often delayed the next line. Combining witty banter with shameless mugging, comic antics and sprightly choreography, the ensemble has created a thoroughly joyous entertainment. The main plot is that the young King of Navarre and his three student companions have vowed to give up the company of women and devote themselves to several years of serious study. Then they remember that the Princess of France is coming to the court. When she arrives with her three female companions, they are turned away and sent to camp in the woods. The noblemen go out to interview the Princess, and each falls in love with one of the ladies. But their initial dismissal rankles with the women, and they decide to deflect the men`s attempts at courtship as insincere. They take their verbal revenge in the second act, after the men have donned exaggerated "Russian" costumes and false beards to trick the women. Trystan Gravelle is outstanding in his comic portrayal of Berowne. the most clever of the noblemen. Philip Cumbus has the appropriate blustery charm for the young King, while Jack Farthing as Dumaine and Will Mannering as Longaville more than ably round out the quartet of hapless romantics. On the female side, Michelle Terry is spunky as the Princess and Thomasin Rand sparkles as Rosaline. Several comic subplots are laden with slapstick. Fergal McElherron is perfect in over-the-top clown mode as the peasant Costard, who, when he`s not mis-delivering important love letters eagerly pursues the lusty dairymaid Jaquenetta, played with spirit by Rhiannon Oliver. Paul Ready gives a wonderfully woebegone performance as Jaquenetta`s other suitor, the highborn, none-too-bright Don Armado. His excessive word-mangling is marvelously contrasted with the well-spoken lords and ladies, and even with his own servant, the diminutive but memorable Seroca Davis as Moth. Two seasoned British actors, Patrick Godfrey and Christopher Godwin, take great enjoyment in their pun-laden portrayals of fussy scholars enraptured with their own wordplay. Jonathan Fensome`s delightful set subtly reflects the importance of love-letters, which have been combined with tree-branch illustrations and applied to fabric and walls to form the garden-style backdrop. Fensome`s intricate costumes can best be described as gorgeous. Adorable stuffed deer puppets and charmingly period instruments, plied by an onstage troupe of live musicians, round out the feeling of being transported to the grounds of an Elizabethan castle. You can revel in "Love`s Labour`s Lost" at the Michael Schimmel Center through Dec. 21. Bureau Report