Love's Labour's Lost

On my continuing quest to see as many of the plays of William Shakespeare as I can, I took the advice of the critic in the Sunday Times and made my way on a dark and wet Thursday evening to Kingston Upon Thames and it's relatively new Rose Theatre. Losing my way at night on the infamous one way system, I managed in the end to follow the brown theatre signs and found one of the last spots on the roof of the car park.

I could not have found a better view than that from my seat in a well designed auditorium. Peter Hall's production was lucid and pacy. The acting was first rate in a play with little action. Peter Bowles was outstanding as Don Adriano de Armado. One of Bill's first, the play is an exercise in word play and "linguistic conundrums". If I have one criticism, it was that the actors were too static. I love how the RSC give so much movement to their productions. Just listening to actors delivering the text needs a lot of concentration. The Coca Cola in the interval did help.