“Men can be idiots when love is involved,” director Kevin Poole joked about the theme of Starlight Theatre’s newest Starlight Shakes production: “Love’s Labour’s Lost.”
Starlight Theatre opened in 1967. Students created it to bring the Rockford community together and spread the arts to all people. In 2018, the theater began the Shakespeare Shakes tradition.
Every fall, the Ray Castle Stage is reconstructed on the lawn, and a new play from Shakespeare’s repertoire is chosen. The plays are open to the public, and most shows are held in the evening by the light of campfires. This year’s pick, “Love’s Labour’s Lost,” has been recommended for a Lou Award, which celebrates excellent community theater in the Chicago area.
“Love’s Labour’s Lost” is one of Shakespeare’s lesser-known works; it was only performed twice in his lifetime.
The story follows the exploits of the King of Navarre and his three Lords during a visit from the Princess of France and her own Ladies. The men took a vow to devote themselves to academics and avoid women but quickly fell in love with their visitors. They each fight to keep their passions hidden from each other but are revealed through mixed-up letters.
After the revelation, each agrees to woo his lady. That’s where the hilarity really begins. At one point, the Lords even dressed up as Russians to win the women’s attention. The ladies are all too happy to tease them!
After plenty of chaotic (and perhaps foolish) antics from both parties, the women agree to marriage if the man will stay true for an entire year first. Its oddities lend the play charm, and it is perhaps best described by a section of its own lines: “strange without heresy.”
Despite this, the play is for everyone. “[Shakespeare] in his time borrowed from stuff much older.”
“For example, Romeo and Juliet is based off of “Pyramus and Thisbe,” which was another story long before that,” explained Poole. So, when we keep using the same story beats, the same character archetypes over and over again, it’s a sort of familiarity in storytelling that audiences move towards.”
Audience members at last Thursday’s shows agree. Jessica, Jonah, and Li were surprised by how relevant the themes of Shakespeare are to their lives and experiences today. It was familiar to them in a way they could understand. The group also stressed the importance of context clues.
“Anything where I’m like ‘I’m not sure I understood that,’ usually [is paired with] body language like clue words in a paragraph,” explained Jessica.
Li added, “Somebody in the back is [always] acting it out!”
Starlight makes it easy for inexperienced patrons like Jonah to understand the story. Viewers are treated to modernizations, such as trading golf for hunting to make a scene more relevant, and background characters spell out actions and discussions.
The show’s soundtrack also does a lot to set the tone and keep audiences interacting with the Elizabethan-era speech. Songs like: “No Sleep Till Brooklyn” by the Beastie Boys, “Somebody to Love” by Queen, and “Enchanted” by Taylor Swift all have their place on the Ray Castle Stage.
“I think [community theater] is very important because it drives this creativity within people, [a] passion. Without passion, life is kinda dull,” continues Poole.
“Love’s Labour’s Lost,” through its comical depictions of love, passion and the connections forged between people, reaches right for the heart of Starlight Theatre’s goal: to gather the community together and celebrate the arts.
