As has already been noted, 'Love's Labour's Lost' is not one of "The Bard" William Shakespeare's best or most accessible plays despite being one of Shakespeare's shortest. Mostly for all that wordplay and dialogue, difficult to remember and not always easy to follow. It is a lot of fun to watch though and one of the most striking aspects of it is the very meaty character of Berowne, so it does deserve to be better known.
'Love's Labour's Lost' is not quite in the top 10 of the BBC Television Shakespeare series to me ('Much Ado About Nothing', 'Henry the Eighth', 'King Richard the Second', both parts of 'Henry the Fourth', 'The Taming of the Shrew', 'Richard III', 'Pericles', 'Twelfth Night', with 'Hamlet', 'King Lear', 'Measure for Measure' and 'All's Well that Ends Well' just missing out). It's not one of the weakest either, though don't dislike any of the productions ('A Midsummer Night's Dream', 'Romeo and Juliet', 'Othello', 'Antony and Cleopatra', 'The Tempest', though none are unwatchable). Personally put it somewhere near the top, have realised watching this very interesting if uneven series that some productions of the lesser known plays are better than those for the more famous plays.
There is really not an awful lot wrong here in 'Love's Labour's Lost'. Do agree that the abridgements and moving around of some of the text was not always necessary and actually complicated the story.
While all the cast give good to excellent performances, the production is a case of the supporting actors faring better than a few of the leads. Jonathan Kent and Maureen Lipman plays their parts spot on and there are no problems with the characterisation, but it is agreed that it is the age-appropriateness (or lack of it) that brings them down a little. Just didn't buy them as young lovers, but their characterisation does make up for that.
Mike Gwilym, as the play's most interesting character Berowne, and David Warner, having an absolute blast with Armado, are never less than splendid and were the clear standouts for me. This is not the first time Gwilym featured in the BBC Television Shakespeare series, do think that this is one of his best performances of the series, perhaps his best.
On a visual level too, 'Love's Labour's Lost' is one of the best looking and most professional of the series, like most of the Elijah Moshinsky-directed productions. Some of the series' productions, namely 'The Tempest' and 'A Midsummer Night's Dream', suffered from budget constraints, meaning a drab and unattractive look. Not here, thought the production values looked pretty gorgeous actually. It's beautifully and intelligently staged too, it is not always successful in making the story easy to follow but one is always engaged, it is a lot of fun and it is played straight without ever being too serious.
In summation, very good. 8/10
