Other productions

In this section we look at past productions of Love’s Labour’s Lost between 1978 and 2008.

The male lovers in Love's Labour's Lost — From Gregory Doran's production of Love's Labours Lost in 2008
Photo by Ellie Kurttz © RSC Browse and license our images

All productions of Shakespeare have one thing in common: the text. They can differ greatly because each text is open to interpretation and every director and their company makes different interpretative choices in the rehearsal room.

Here we delve into the RSC's archive to give you a snapshot of our creative process behind the productions. You can see previously-unseen production records, reviews, production and rehearsal photos to give you an insight of the depth of work that goes on behind the scenes of an RSC production.

John Barton's autumnal 1978 production
Ian Judge’s 1993 production set in Edwardian Oxbridge
Gregory Doran’s handsome Elizabethan costumed 2008 production.

John Barton's 1978 Production

Cueing the pageant

In the final scene of the play, a pageant of the Nine Worthies is performed for the assembled ladies and gentlemen. The play within the play presents a technical challenge for the director and stage management. In this image we see the complex movements (blocking) and cues in the prompt book for the 1978 production of Love's Labour's Lost. The opposing page contains the play text , cue numbers and special effects (lighting, sound). In cue 10 we learn that Moth, as young Hercules, “strangles snake R[ight] of lords + ladies, then bashes it on head with club, which he gets from Holo[fernes].” In this production, Jo James, 13-year-old son of the late RSC Associate Artist, Emrys James, played Moth on alternate nights. The 'snake' that Hercules killed was eight feet long.

Prompt side props

This image shows the list of props needed on the prompt side (stage left) for the 1978 production of Love's Labour's Lost. Words, spoken and written, are at the heart of the play so not surprisingly we have references to the four sonnets, which the men compose for their lovers, as well as official letters with seals of office. The list of moveable objects also includes hunting paraphernalia: four small bows, two large bows , six quivers, some of which we can see in the previous image of the lady hunters. The hunting party seems to be well provisioned if the picnic ingredients are anything to go by.

Ralph Koltai's leaf-strewn set

'Dumaine is mine as sure as bark on tree' Maria, Act 5 Scene 2

The woodland set for John Barton's production of Love's Labour's Lost was designed by Ralph Koltai. In this photo we see the leaf-strewn stage of the Theatre Royal, Newcastle upon Tyne, where the production played after opening in Stratford upon Avon and before its transfer to the Aldwych Theatre, London. The two benches suggest we could be in a park or country estate and the luxuriantly blossoming trees upstage provide useful hiding places. The action of Love's Labour's Lost takes place in one main location and is often set outdoors.

Photo by Swinton © Unknown Browse and license our images

A-Hunting We Will Go!

This production photo show the Princess and her entourage hunting deer in the 1978 production of Love’s Labour’s Lost. In the foreground, from left to right, we see Rosaline (Jane Lapotaire) hurtling after the Princess (Carmen Du Sautoy), “a ringletted hoyden in grannie glasses” Irving Wardle, The Times, 12 August 1978. For Shakespeare’s contemporaries the image of female hunters would have had associations with Diana, the Roman goddess of hunting, and also with Elizabeth I, another famous virgin queen. These ladies are demonstrating their power both in hunting and in the pursuit of love. Ralph Koltai’s forested set has been transformed into the hunting grounds.

Photo by Joe Cocks Studio Collection © Shakespeare Birthplace Trust Browse and license our images

Let there be sound!

The sound department are responsible for all sound effects and amplification, helping to bring alive a production for an audience. Here we can see an extract from the list of sound cues for Love's Labour's Lost, which transferred to the Aldwych Theatre, London, in April 1979. Responsible for sound in the 1978 production were Roland Morrow and John A Leonard, while James Walker composed the music. In the first column marked 'Q' we have the cue number, then the script page, which corresponds with the prompt book, used by stage management to ensure the smooth running of a production. The source of each sound, description and output are also given e.g. cue '1A+B' = the sound produced by the musicians in 'Band Box' will be broadcast over all the stage and proscenium loudspeakers but will fade on the proscenium when the actors make their entrances. Sound effects used in the production include birds, a bell, shouts and dogs suggesting a countryside setting and hunting.

1978 programme

John Barton directed Love's Labour's Lost for the RSC in 1965 and again in 1978. The 1978 production was first performed at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon before transferring to the Theatre Royal, Newcastle upon Tyne, then the Aldwych Theatre, London. Critics noted the unconventional casting of Richard Griffiths and Carmen Du Sautoy as the King of Navarre and the Princess. This bespectacled couple had equal prominence as Berowne and Rosaline.

Ralph Koltai's autumnal set reflected Barton's vision of the play “as a corrective comedy about four young men whose lives are at a turning point,” Michael Billington, Guardian, 14 August 1978. The leafy setting is emphasized in this image of the programme for the production at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre.

Performing the pageant

Only five of the Nine Worthies in the pageant are performed before Marcadé, the messenger from the French king, interrupts proceedings. In this production photo from 1978, we can see the assembled ladies and gentlemen witnessing the school master Holofernes (Paul Brooke), impersonating Judas Maccabaeus, a famous Jewish military commander. The pageant in Love's Labour's Lost is usually played ludicrously with constant interruptions before descending into farce. In the previous image of the prompt book , we can see that cue 11 features the moment when Holofernes enters “gallops frenetically DS [Down Stage] to above platform … up onto platform sideways then circles on spot DC [Down Centre] – all duck to avoid his lance.”

Photo by Tom Holte Theatre Photographic Collection © Shakespeare Birthplace Trust Browse and license our images

Signing the agreement

'Give me the paper, let me read the same,
And to the strict'st decrees I'll write my name.' Berowne, Act 1 Scene 1

This production photo shows the moment at the beginning of the play when Berowne (Michael Pennington), watched by Longaville (Ian Charleston), reads the King's (Richard Griffiths) oath to devote them to three years' study at the expense of more worldly pursuits. In the bottom right of the image, a pile of books has been left beside a fallen tree hinting that these would-be scholars might not be entirely devoted to the academic life. The mellow tones of the men's period costumes complement the autumnal set designed by Ralph Koltai, reflecting the transitory nature of love and the seasons.

Photo by Tom Holte Theatre Photographic Collection © Shakespeare Birthplace Trust Browse and license our images

Launch Gallery

Ian Judge's 1993 Production

Love sonnets

'Vows are but breath, and breath a vapour is.'Longaville, Act 4 Scene 3

The stage management for the 1993 production of Love's Labour's Lost listed all the letters needed in each scene for each character. Here we see the text of the three sonnets needed for the King, Longaville and Dumaine in Act 4 Scene 3. We also learn that “Longaville's sonnet is written on paper and torn up. He has lots of other pieces of paper with sonnets on.” In the previous image we can see Longaville (Guy Henry) reading the sonnet during the production. Each letter or scrap of paper would need to be available as a prop for each performance so an inventory was essential.

Model box of 'a little Academe'

Ian Judge's setting for his 1993 production of Love' Labour's Lost was beautifully brought to life by John Gunter's set designs. Here we see a model box of the interior of the college which seems to be a yellow stoned building with mullioned windows and creeping foliage. Books can be seen piled up at each end of the stage, as well as in a bookcase, while library steps are placed behind a comfy chair. Scattered cushions suggest a more casual undergraduate environment. A bicycle is visible at the end of the stage. The transformation between the outside and interior was cleverly achieved through John Gunter's versatile sets, which included a backdrop of Oxford spires or the addition of a large railway clock to denote a station.

Set under construction

Using detailed scale plans based on the designer's model box, the scenic workshop, scenic engineers, paint shop and props team work together to bring the set to life. As we can see in this image of a section of the set from the 1993 production of 'Love's Labour's Lost', skilled craftsmen have created the illusion of a stone collegiate doorway with trailing greenery.

Learn more about the fascinating work of our Scenic Workshop and gain an insight into how we make theatre.

Photo by RSC © RSC Browse and license our images

'Love doth approach disguised'

Deirdre Clancy's gorgeous costumes complemented John Gunter's set design in the 1993 production of Love's Labour's Lost. In addition to 'cream suits, boaters, hunting gear, sequined togas and toques', Michael Coveney, Observer, 31 October 1993, she designed these sumptuous Russian outfits for Navarre and Dumaine. In 1995 Deirdre Clancy won an Olivier Award for Best Costume Designer for this production, which opened at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford upon Avon October 1993 before transferring to the Theatre Royal, Newcastle upon Tyne, and the Barbican, London, in 1994.

Longaville is overheard

'I fear these stubborn lines lack power to move' Longaville, Act 4 Scene 3

The adaptability of John Gunter's set is clearly demonstrated in this production photo from Love's Labour's Lost, 1993. Staging the multiple overhearing scene, where the King and his three companions are one by one exposed as oath breakers, is always a technical challenge. John Gunter's set allowed the audience to see the overheard and the overhearing simultaneously. Here we see the kneeling Longaville (Guy Henry) obliviously reading his sonnet as Berowne (Jeremy Northam) witnesses all from an open window above.

Photo by Malcolm Davies © Shakespeare Birthplace Trust Browse and license our images

Masquerading Muscovites

'We have had pastimes here and pleasant game:
A mess of Russians left us but of late.' Princess, Act 5 Scene 2

This image shows Deirdre Clancy's award-winning designs for Longaville and Berowne's Russian disguises. According to the Props by Scene List from the 1993 production, the sunglasses were supposed to be worn by all four men as part of their costume but they were regularly 'lost' so were designated 'props'. The stage manager also noted in the Props List for this scene that the director, Ian Judge, “might want them [the actors] to have their Russian costumes to practise the dance in from a very early stage”.

A false curtain?

The staging of the pageant of the Nine Worthies with its onstage 'audience' is another challenge for any director. In Ian Judge's 1993 production, he exploited the musical score of Nigel Hess to great effect. One innovation was the black out or 'false curtain' after Monsieur Marcadé's interruption of the pageant when, poignantly, the backdrop of Oxford spires changed to Flanders fields and the sound of shells and gunfire. The play resumed with the Cuckoo and Owl songs. On the right of the front row is Christopher Luscombe (Moth), who went on to direct the RSC's productions of Love's Labour's Lost and Love's Labour's Won (Much Ado About Nothing) in 2014.

Photo by Malcolm Davies © Shakespeare Birthplace Trust Browse and license our images

Four men in boat

In 1993 Ian Judge set his production of Love's Labour's Lost in the dreaming spires of Edwardian Oxbridge. The young men were undergraduates, Nathaniel a college chaplain, Holofernes a professor of Latin, Armado a Don, Costard a local delivery boy and Moth, a chorister. The royal park was the porter's lodge and much of the action was played out in a quad. The setting perfectly suited the play's verbal sparring, emotional immaturity, pedantry and social divisions. In this mock period postcard, we see carefree privileged young men punting listlessly along the river, sipping a glass of champagne: Jeremy Northam (Berowne, standing), Guy Henry (Longaville), Owen Teale (King of Navarre, front left) and Robert Portal (Dumaine).

Photo by Tim Hazael © Tim Hazael Browse and license our images

Launch Gallery

Gregory Doran's 2008 Production

A costume fit for a princess

The costume design process can take up to four weeks before rehearsals, after which the designer often needs to change or fix things in consultation with the creative team. In Katrina Lindsay's design sketch we see the elegant formal Elizabethan costume for the Princess' (Mariah Gale) entrance in Act 2 Scene 1. The designer has attached swatches of different fabrics to the sketch to help with the visualisation process. In the next image we discover how the design became reality in the 2008 production of Love's Labour's Lost.

Two worthy designs

“When in the world I lived, I was the world's commander” Nathaniel, Act 5 Scene 2
“I Pompey am, Pompey surnamed the Big' Costard, Act 5 Scene 2

These colourful sketches by the costume designer Katrina Lindsay show her ideas for two of the Worthies in the pageant at the end of Love's Labour's Lost. On the left we have Nathaniel's outfit for Alexander the Great complete with flapping ears on the elephant. The right hand sketch is Costard's costume for Pompey but the designer was undecided about the colour of the animal head on the ship's prow; in the finalised design it resembled a leopard. According to a stage manager's report, the wired flag on Pompey's ship accidentally detached at one performance.

Model box for 2008 Love's Labour's Lost

This striking image is of the model box created by the designer Francis O'Connor for the set of Gregory Doran's 2008 production of Love's Labour's Lost. Francis O'Connor's tree dominated set was a mixture of the natural and the artificial. The action of the play took place around the spreading branches of an aged tree with suspended shards of glass, brought to life by Tim Mitchell's lighting and the reflective floor. A model box is a 3D to-scale mock-up of the designer's intentions and enables the creative team to visualise the space before the set is constructed. The technical rehearsal, when the completed set is put through its paces, can be up to 12 weeks after the model box showing.

Rehearsing the music

Here we see the company rehearsing the cuckoo song by Paul Englishby, the score of which appeared in the previous image. The score at the piano is headed 'MQ18' which refers to the musical cue number used by the stage manager and entered in the prompt book. Any music to be performed on stage needs to be written early on to allow enough time for rehearsals and any changes required for technical reasons.

Learn more about music at the RSC and experience a week in the life of the music department

That's the way to do it!

In this rehearsal photo from the 2008 production of Love's Labour's Lost the director, Gregory Doran, is demonstrating the finer points of fake snake wrangling to Mariah Gale (Princess), Zoe, Thorne (Moth) and Oliver Ford Davies (Holofernes) . In the background, we can see a mock-up of the tree that dominated the set. During the pageant of the Nine Worthies, Moth, as Young Hercules, kills a serpent.

In this production, Moth was played by the actor, Zoe Thorne, but in many productions the role is performed by a child. Gregory Doran's production at the Courtyard Theatre was the first main stage revival for more than a decade.

Poster for Love's Labour's Lost

“That last is Berowne, the merry madcap lord.” Maria, Act 2 Scene 1

In 2008 Gregory Doran directed Love's Labour's Lost for the RSC with David Tennant in the role of Berowne . The last time the RSC had presented the play was in 1995 with Ian Judge's production although the play was performed by Washington's Shakespeare Theatre Company during the Complete Works Festival 2006/7. In this poster for Doran's 2008 production we can see David Tennant wearing one of the fabulous costumes designed by Katrina Lindsay. Doran opted for resplendent Elizabethan costumes featuring ruffs, doublets and farthingales. David Tennant was a charismatic and lively Berowne who used his natural Scottish brogue to convey the play's wry humour.

Making an impression?

“The roof of this court is too high to be yours, and welcome to the wide fields too base to be mine.” Princess, Act 2 Scene 1

In this photo from Gregory Doran's 2008 production of Love's Labour's Lost, Katrina Lindsay's sumptuous costumes are combined with Francis O'Connor's set and Tim Mitchell's lighting to create a stunning tableau for the Princess's (Mariah Gale) welcome to the kingdom of Navarre. If we compare this image to the previous one of the Princess' costume design, it is clear that changes been made to the original concept: the outer gown no longer has horizontal banding with a bow and the puff shoulder now has vertical braiding. However, the fabric colours are similar to the swatches.

The cuckoo song

Paul Englishby usually starts the composition process after reading the script and having the initial conversation with the director about the setting and style of the production. The model box showing can also be a source of inspiration for a composer. Love's Labour's Lost has been described as a musical without music, so melodic is Shakespeare's language. Music underscored the action of Gregory Doran's 2008 production which ended with the two well-known songs about Spring and Winter. Here we can see Paul's score for the Cuckoo song.

Launch Gallery

John Barton's 1978 Production

Cueing the pageant

Prompt side props

Ralph Koltai's leaf-strewn set

A-Hunting We Will Go!

Let there be sound!

1978 programme

Performing the pageant

Signing the agreement

Ian Judge's 1993 Production

Love sonnets

Model box of 'a little Academe'

Set under construction

'Love doth approach disguised'

Longaville is overheard

Masquerading Muscovites

A false curtain?

Four men in boat

Gregory Doran's 2008 Production

A costume fit for a princess

Two worthy designs

Model box for 2008 Love's Labour's Lost

Rehearsing the music

That's the way to do it!

Poster for Love's Labour's Lost

Making an impression?

The cuckoo song

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