AISLE SAY New York
LOVE'S LABOR'S LOST
by William Shakespeare
Directed by Karin Coonrod
A Public Theatre Lab Production
in the Anspacher Space
The most meaningful part of Karin
Coonrod’s new “lab” staging of Shakespeare’s early comedy Love’s Labor’s Lost appeared not onstage, but in the
audience, where a girl not older than 10 and likely younger, sat enraptured,
laughing and enchanted, periodically looking up at her mom’s face to share the
moment. The production, which is presented straight through in a two-hour blast
with no intermission, held her attention all the way through.
I
think this is significant because I personally was not nearly so taken with it,
primarily because much of the title’s “labor” infuses the production’s comedy;
Ms. Coonrod is not as humor-challenged as some directors who default to a
combination of higher decibel level with near-calisthenic physical business in
the mistaken impression that goofy behavior automatically equals
funny—she has a lighter touch than Julie Taymor (but then, so does The
Incredible Hulk)—but you never lose the sense of actors at work. At least I didn’t.
But
I hasten to mention, a lot of what I was seeing did seem to be in the nature of
active and ongoing experimentation—which is what the Public theatre lab
series (now in its 5th season) is all about, which is also why production
values are minimal and the ticket price is a “mere” fifteen bucks. And the
audience was clearly on board, seeming to take it in the intended context. And
that little girl’s animated, involved face was positively glowing. So as far as
I’m concerned, if Ms. Coonrod’s LLL has
done nothing but make one child desire the magic of theatre for the rest of her
life, damn the flaws and praise the lab, that’s all the validation required.
This time, anyway…
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