From Shakespeare to Stratford, love is love

Four of the actors in Love’s Labour’s Lost at the Stratford Festival share their thoughts on the Shakespeare comedy’s take on relationships. Mike Shara (Berowne)

I think this play has a very contemporary bent. I like the fact that it’s really the women who call the shots at the end. They’re not just dramatic tools. The men are all prepared to jump into marriage, but it’s the women who say, “No, you guys aren’t ready yet. You’ve sent us flippant letters and pretty poems and done lots of silly things, but prove to us that you’re ready for a lasting relationship.” I like that and I think it’s really modern. They’re right. Timing is everything.

When I was younger, I would have thought I’d know just how to play this part. I’m grateful it came along at a time when I’m ready to understand just how little I know. Sarah Afful (Rosaline)

I completely agree about how contemporary the play feels. The game playing in romantic relationships has never really changed. Whether it’s sonnets or sexting, there’s always this push and pull that goes on between two people when they’re attracted to each other. I feel like I’m quite similar to Rosaline: a straightforward person, until it comes to romance. Then I’m very capable of losing my footing. In the final scene, I think about all the times I’ve been disappointed in someone I’ve been romantically involved with, or maybe all the times they’ve been disappointed in me. It really is all about love. Love of life, love of language, love of love. And what we can do with those feelings. Ruby Joy (The Princess of France)

What this play has to say is absolutely vital to today. These women feel they really need to love these men, as improbable as that may be. Oh yes, they’re handsome and charming and witty, but everything they say is rooted in a kind of merry mockery. Just like today, where everything can be turned into an ironic joke. But the women in the play come to realize that we come to a point in our lives when something which may have served us all our lives doesn’t work anymore and to bring it into a new relationship would be detrimental to our personal growth. It’s a play filled with beautiful, elegant words, but we finally realize that words in themselves mean nothing. You have to do something with your life. Sanjay Talwar (The King of Navarre)

It’s been a really fun journey to learn something about this guy. He initiates the action of the play and then spends the rest of his time reacting to things outside of his control. So he’s got to feel like he’s right and act like he’s right until he finally has to admit that he’s not. And a woman does it to him. I think it’s love at first sight. He takes in her beauty and her intelligence, and her sense of command, and his world changes at once. She’s everything he’s ever wanted. Even more, she’s everything he’s ever wanted to be. There’s so many things you’re feeling at any single moment. That’s the amazing part about Shakespeare. Always.