LEVITT LIVE! Shakespeare in the Park

Harrisburg Shakespeare Festival will present William Shakespeare's Love's Labours Lost this summer for its highly-anticipated Free Shakespeare in the Park production!

SYNOPSIS: The play opens with the King of Navarre and three noble companions, Berowne, Dumaine, and Longaville, taking an oath to devote themselves to three years of study, promising not to give in to the company of women - Berowne somewhat more hesitantly than the others. Berowne reminds the king that the princess and her three ladies are coming to the kingdom and it was suicidal for the King to agree to this law. The King denies what Berowne says, insisting that the ladies make their camp in the field outside of his court. The King and his men comically fall in love with the princess and her ladies.

The main story is assisted by many other funny sub-plots. A rather heavy-accented Spanish swordsman, Don Adriano de Armado, tries and fails to woo a country wench, Jaquenetta, helped by Moth, his page, and rivaled by Costard, a country idiot. We are also introduced to two scholars: Holofernes and Sir Nathaniel, we have seen them converse with each other in schoolboy Latin. In the final act, the comic characters perform a play to entertain the nobles, an idea conceived by Holofernes, where they represent the Nine Worthies. The four Lords - as well as the Ladies' manservant Boyet - mock the play, and Armado and Costard almost come to blows.

At the end of this 'play' in the play, there is a bitter twist in the story. News arrives that the Princess's father has died and she must leave to take the throne. The king and his nobles swear to remain faithful to their ladies, but the ladies, unconvinced that their love is that strong, claim that the men must wait a whole year and a day to prove what they say is true. This is an unusual ending for Shakespeare and Elizabethan comedy. A play mentioned by Francis Meres, Love's Labour's Won, is sometimes supposed to be a sequel to this play.

Love's Labours is often thought of as Shakespeare's most flamboyantly intellectual play. It abounds in sophisticated wordplay, puns, and literary allusions and is filled with clever pastiches of contemporary poetic forms. It is often assumed that it was written for performance at the Inns of Court, whose students would have been most likely to appreciate its style.

Harrisburg Shakespeare Festival's Weather Policy:

* In the event of heavy rain or thunderstorms the performance will most likely be cancelled. Although we have been known to perform after heavy downpours that ended one half hour prior to curtain time.
* The decision to cancel a performance will be made at the latest possible moment.
* If there is a threat of possible light rain throughout the evening, the performance will proceed with modifications to the sound and lighting systems.
* If rain begins during a performance, we will hold the show for up to 30 minutes. Once the rain stops, we continue the show exactly where we left off. If the rain persists for over 30 minutes, the performance will be cancelled for the evening.