William Shakespeare’s Love’s Labour’s Lost follows the King of Navarre and his companions as they swear off the company of women, only to each fall in love with the Princess of France or one of her companions. One of Shakespeare’s earliest comedies, the play explores love and desire alongside temperance and grief.

This 2024 production, directed by Kay Brattan at The Space in London through Canadian theatre company Little Lion, is an ‘original practices’ production. Actors had limited time rehearsing together before coming together to perform, instead relying on their own ‘cue-scripts,’ containing only their part and the few preceding words. Performing the play just as companies in Shakespeare’s day would have done revealed unique opportunities for comedy within the text while providing great insight into Early Modern performance practice.