REVIEW: Love’s Labour’s Lost

Titchfield Festival Theatre

The Great Barn, Titchfield.

A king and his nobles forswear the company of ladies for three years; a princess and her ladies arrive for a state visit. Not difficult to guess what ultimately happens, but not until Director Kevin Fraser’s likeable cast had worked their way through a densely worded text to create a most enjoyable production of this rarely-performed comedy, supposedly set by Shakespeare in and around the village of Titchfield itself.

As the Lord Berowne and the Princess of France, Kyle Fraser and Helen Haines gave two of the strongest performances seen for some time at The Great Barn, while Hannah Henderson (Rosaline) and Stuart Hibbard (King Ferdinand) gave great support as their opposites.

In a lengthy first act, Alec Clements as the foppish French Lord Boyet and Nathan Blees as the rustic Costard made the most of their roles, and live music, played throughout by Roger Toye, gave the piece added period authenticity.

Ed Howson