Shakespeare in the Squares: Love’s Labour’s Lost

The touring theatre company Shakespeare in the Squares returns to some of London’s most picturesque green spaces for its tenth anniversary. One of the Bard’s early comedies, it is a tale of male desire, idealism and the complexities of romantic love.

Directed by Toby Gordon in a beautifully scenic setting (the press night took place in Charterhouse Square), the play follows the King of Navarre, who convinces his three lords, Berowne, Dumaine and Longaville, to take a three-year oath, swearing off women to focus on philosophical studies. However, their willpower is amusingly tested when the Princess of France and her companions, Katharine and Rosaline, arrive.

Less globally recognised than Romeo & Juliet or A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the play’s relevance is clearly being revisited, as it will also be performed at Shakespeare’s Globe this summer, and for good reason. Surprisingly and progressively feminist in its depiction of women, the female protagonists defy Elizabethan societal norms with their sense of agency, superior intellect and rejection of marriage. The self-assured Princess of France, brilliantly played by Laura Andresen Guimarães, does not easily succumb to male flattery: “Good Lord Boyet, my beauty, though but mean, needs not the painted flourish of your praise.” It is a refreshing inversion of power rarely seen in the genre.

The multi-talented cast bring crowd-pleasing energy throughout, and Dexter Southern is particularly entertaining as the eccentric Spaniard, Don Adriano de Armado. The actors use minimal props, relying instead on their instruments for musical interludes, of which there are plenty. Popular rock and pop tracks, which, while some may find distracting, humorously punctuate key moments in the performance. A rendition of La Bamba accompanies the arrival of Armado, and as important letters are delivered, an ensemble of Please Mr Postman. Audience participation is used creatively, even bringing a member from the front row to join the cast onstage.

2026 is clearly the year for Love’s Labour’s Lost, and this production makes for an entertaining and family-friendly event. The relaxed atmosphere, in which wine and picnics are encouraged, provides a fitting backdrop, and viewers can enjoy this underrated work with a glass in hand, surrounded by the sound of birdsong.