LOVE'S LABOR'S LOST (2022), David Geffen School of Drama

Think back to your first love…

Did you seek them out or were they there all along? Did your name float off their tongues and into your ear? Did you think it would last forever or did it seem too good to be true?

Think forward to your favorite read…

Is it a book, a play, or a poem?Is it written for young adults, is it a picture book thatkeeps your eyes dancing?Does the language arrest your mind or is it the plainestspeech that speaks a profound truth?

Meet us now in this space, the Iseman Theater, and witness one of William Shakespeare’s most linguistically indulgent pieces. Shakespeare relishes language and moves fluidly between word games, cultural citations, and verbal allusions—elaborate language darts out of the characters’ mouths like love pelting out the pores of young lovers. Shakespeare uses both that language and love to sober our senses. The realization of love surprises us, leaving us confused instead of cheerful, like a good joke that sends us crying instead of laughing. In this comedic romantic elegy, Shakespeare breaks apart dichotomies that life gives us and instead inserts deep inquiries:

Berowne: What is the end of study, let me know?King: Why, to know which else we should not know.

At David Geffen School of Drama, students are not so far from the world of the play themselves—for three years’ time, students, like the Lords of Navarre, have vowed to take up serious study. While youth wants what it wants quickly, it is the marriage of time + knowledge that brings about the greatest gift of all—wisdom. This play is an invitation for all learners of life to attain that fruit.

—Ashley M. Thomas, Production Dramaturg