David Melville (Photo by Grettel Cortes)
Reviewed by Ali MacLean
Independent Shakespeare Company in Griffith Park
Through August 31
RECOMMENDED
Independent Shakespeare Company’s 2025 season opener is Shakespeare’s comedy Love’s Labour’s Lost. In this political climate, surely Richard II (a play about the dangers of unchecked power), Richard III (about a Machiavellian and corrupt King), or the bloody Titus Andronicus (featuring a chaotic government that rapes and silence women), would allow for commenting on our national daily trauma.
However, on opening night, Artistic Director Melissa Chalsma took to the stage to reflect on the trials our fair city has been through lately: entertainment strikes, fires, ICE kidnappings. Upon contemplating the battering Los Angeles has taken and our country’s current chaos, a comedy seems like a much-needed relief, she noted. Fair enough.
With the old proscenium stage now under construction to make way for a revamped version, this season is now taking place further in the park, on a slope surrounding a square stage in the round. The scenic design by Maya Channel features a stage floor painted in a green chessboard pattern that forms an MC Escher-style circle. Other spots in the woods are made use of — certain rocks, perches, and a makeshift tent, where the Princess and her ladies will ‘glamp’ when the king doesn’t allow them into the castle.
In this world, the King of Navarre has everyone take an oath of celibacy, fasting, and not sleeping more than three hours in order to focus on intellectual pursuits. Shakespeare’s satirical take on the pretentiousness of the rules of court can sometimes slow the pace of the plot. Despite this bittersweet comedy’s faults, the production itself has some standouts.
The play is deftly directed by David Melville, the co-founder and managing director for over 20 years. It is clear that he is a master at this, and the fact that he can still find ways to make this canon fresh is pretty amazing. This version of Navarre will be a welcome sight for Bridgerton fans, with empire-waisted, cap-sleeved frocks, and waistcoats from costume designer Garry Lennon. Melville makes excellent use of all four corners of the stage, assigning certain spaces to certain characters, and having them shift and counter each other like chess pieces. And in moments of zany chaos, they chase each other around the circle, reminiscent of Lewis Carroll’s Caucus race, where there is no beginning and no end.
Much of this play features reading letters, reading books, reciting poems, and singing love songs. These are difficult tasksfor actors to bring to life since the text is often exposition or esoteric, but they keep the plot moving nonetheless. Modern asides for the lords and ladies, including “humphs,” “Mmm hmmm,” and “Ooooooo!” add a Real Housewives flair to this battle of the sexes.
The barbs of wit are balanced with slapstick comedy that provokes guffaws in certain moments, such as an overly laden porter who falls off the stage after a glove is added to his pile, grown men having a silly slapping fight, or the fool Costard wielding the stocks he is locked into.
In fact, every scene with Melville as Costard is gold. It is evident that he relishes playing these comedic fools and the choices he makes are always inventive.
Boyet (William Elsman) makes a good foil for a commanding and formidable Princess (Chalsma) and her haughty ladies — he has no problem knocking them down a rung. Similarly, Moth (Natalia Echeverria) takes great pleasure in cutting his boss down to size with a song that celebrates the greatness of Don Armado’s (a funny, dynamic Bernardo de Paula) deeds, but exposes his, uhm small shortcomings. It’s fun to watch Diana Reyes as Jaquenetta milk every moment she has the Don and other men eating out of the palm of her hand.
The entire cast is enjoyable and more than capable with the text, but Brent Charles as Berowne runs away with this production. Charles is fantastic as the lovesick lord who would rather shiv himself than admit he is starring in a romcom. He commands the stage every time he is on it, and even when he is off (sitting on a picnic blanket). Charles’s ability to inhabit and translate the text for the diverse crowd was evident, especially to a group of tweens who perked up every time he entered. He embodies that one aloof guy you know who is never going to fall in love, only to fall the hardest.
But as the title dictates, all the laboring over securing love (or lust at least) is lost once grief enters the picture. The King tries to woo the Princess after a tragedy with: Yet since love’s argument was first on foot, Let not the cloud of sorrow jostle it.
But the princess knows that if it is love, it can withstand a year’s time. Here, in the face of obvious grief, the king still pushes the idea of marriage, which is decidedly tone-deaf. Yet Melville’s direction and Pierre Adeli’s delivery soften this so that the King seems misguided by love, and not completely selfish.
Perhaps Melville recognizes that the idea that women would put off male partners until those men grow up is very much in the current zeitgeist. Volumes of recent memes and TikToks feature women preferring friends, Netflix, and peace of mind over men who are past middle age but might as well live in Neverland.
If we are lucky, in a year, there will be certain men in this realm who have matured. However, we may need the women of this world to see to it.
Independent Shakespeare. Co, 4801 Griffith Park Dr., Griffith Park. Opens Sat., June 28; Wed.-Sun., 7 pm; thru Aug. 31. FREE. Running time two hours and 30 minutes, with intermission.
