The fact that Love’s Labour’s Lost is relatively unloved by Shakespeare producers and scholars is due to this mid-16th-century comedy being an early example of his dramatic craft – an RSC online timeline lists it ninth in the 38 main attributed plays – and an unusually inconclusive ending: the typical act five marry-go-round is suddenly deferred for a year.
These problems mean that even purists object less than usual to a solving directorial concept. Tom Littler, in alfresco stagings playing this summer in Guildford and Richmond, pairs the seemingly incomplete piece with Much Ado About Nothing (which some believe to be an otherwise lost Shakespeare piece called Love’s Labour’s Won), unifying the characters and plot lines.
