Love’s Labour’s Lost

Play (1598)
by William Shakespeare
Directed by Justin Genna
Lanes Coven Theater Company
Co-Artistic Directors: Justin Genna and Lily Narbonne
Windhover Performing Arts Center
Rockport, MA
July 11-27, 2025

Sound Design: Justin Genna; Production Stage Manager: Tara Hightower; Assistant Stage Manager: Carly Dreme Calbreath; Costume Design: Jen Greeke; Lighting Design: Isaac Aiello, Streamography; Choreography: Sarah Slifer Swift; Music Composition: Billy Lewand

With David Keohane (Berowne), Michael Lopez Saenz (Don Armado/Boyet), Naomi McLeod (Katherine), Lily Narbonne (Princess of France), Nate Oaks (Longaville), Eryn O’Sullivan (Rosaline), Graciela Rey (Jaquenetta), Stuart Siegel (Anthony Dull), Phoebe Singer (Moth), Alex Strzemilowski (Dumaine/Forester), Evan Turissini (King of Navarre), Debra Wise (Costard)

The King of Navarre (Evan Turissini) and his courtiers – Berowne (David Keohane), Dumaine (Alex Strzemilowski) and Longaville (Nate Oaks) – decide that they are going to go on a retreat from the world and remove themselves from interacting with any women for three years for the general purpose of personal betterment. They will devote themselves to study, reflection and associated elevated enterprises. However, not long after committing to this venture, it turns out that the Princess of France (Lily Narbonne) is arriving in town unexpectedly with her retinue – Katherine (Naomi McLeod) and Rosaline (Eryn O’Sullivan) – and the King and his courtiers decide to postpone their noble endeavor because of the necessity of receiving these noble women.

And so ensues an elongated involvement in which the King and the Princess, Rosaline and Berowne, and Dumaine and Longaville and Katherine, get linked and engage in progressively serious flirtations with one another. Additionally, in yet another adorable complication, Don Armado (Michael Lopez Saenz) shows up with a letter for Jaquenetta (Graciela Rey), whom he passionately admires, and somehow that letter gets submitted to the Princess as a sign of the King’s affections.

Meanwhile Boyet (Michael Lopez Saenz) and his sidekick Moth (Phoebe Singer) help to move things along. And Costard (Debra Wise) adds immensely to the amusement. At one point, the King and his courtiers dress up as Russians and seek to playfully dupe the ladies while the ladies in turn exchange jewelry and don masks to dupe the men. All in good fun, this coquettish play results in progressively serious love matches. Yet, when the relationships are on the verge of maturing and culminating – the men have by this point completely forgotten their vows of celibacy – the Princess receives word that her father has died. Consequently, the women have immediately to return to France – but persuade the men that if they can be patient and remain faithful for the next year that they will return to honor their romantic promises with marital connections.

One cannot say enough about the high quality, spiritedness and inventiveness of this production. Under director Justin Genna, co-artistic director of the Lanes Coven Theater Company, this show rocks. All of the actors shine brilliantly and everything – staging, choreography, musical embellishment – glisten.

A good indication of expert directing vis-à-vis Shakespeare is that the words do not sound onerous or forced and that ease and flexibility of delivery is evident, very much the case here. Of course, it is Shakespeare and one is always in the position of having to listen closely and to pay attention because it all goes by pretty quickly. Here the rendering of the lines is very fluid, and with the carefully supplemented physical gestures, very easy to assimilate. This sort of gestural choreography is not always so vividly appreciated, but here it is done magnificently and brings out all the richness of the text and the action.

Enumerating all the excellences of the performances entails giving attention to literally all of the actors, all of whom who do excellently, and this is a tribute to the troupe and to its directorial leadership of Justin Genna. Genna, as well, and his spouse, Lily Narbonne, are co-artistic directors of this wonderful small theater. In this production, Narbonne plays the Princess of France with dignity, grace and a twinkle in her eye. She is accompanied by Naomi McLeod as Katherine who offers an elevated refinement with a wink towards Berowne, and he, played by David Keonhane with articulate gallantry, is a suitable and chemically engaged consort. The second lady in waiting, Rosaline, played by Eryn O’Sullivan, is elegant, reserved, and appealing, reaching out her sensors to both Longaville, played by Nate Oaks, and to Dumaine, played by Alex Strzemilowski. That dual appeal is an interesting twist and in this production the resolution is truly sweet and contemporary.

Really out of sight is Graciela Rey’s personification of Jaquenetta, the object of Rolando’s affections, and she gives it her all. Every gesture is an aria and Rey’s interpretation is saucy, vivid and resplendent with an articulation of all the suggestive echoes of the role. It could be a routine supporting contribution, but in Rey’s hands it’s a virtuosic accomplishment.

Virtuosic as well is Michael Lopez Saenz’s embodiment of Don Armado, rich with a reverberant accent and an elaborate costume that must be intense to wear in the deep summer heat; Lopez Saenz carries it all off with elegance and panache. He adds a Cyrano-de-Bergerac-like gallantry to his comportment and, with panache, makes this comedic character into an unexpected hero. As well, Lopez plays, with a vivid Woody Harrelson Southern twang, Boyet, the aide who makes everything tick. His two part portrayal is excellently done, and, in addition to bearing the heavy Armado costume in the summer heat, Lopez Saenz offers an heroic effort to carry off endless costume changes and the effective character alternations. Bravo!

And, no less to note is Evan Turissini’s King of Navarre, a noble leader to the courtiers and an elegant and elevated counterpart to Narbonne’s princess. As Armado’s puckish sidekick, Moth, Phoebe Singer does a wonderful job as well, punctuated and expressive, funny and kinetic, in this important supporting role. Filling out the roster as Costard, the inimitable Debra Wise, who stole the show as Dogberry in Commonwealth Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing on the Boston Common in 2022, does a great comedic job here as well, though not as strikingly hilarious as her Dogberry.

Everything is so lively in this production that it moves along with great verve and there are some distinctively funny moments. When the courtiers and the king dress up as Russians with big beards and the women exchange their jewels to fool them, the combined ruse provide a hilarious pantomime. A lovely group vocal near the conclusion is sweetly done and effective.

Though the play is a comedy, there is great poignancy at the end and the echo of the denouement with the beginning, but in a serious key, provides a moment of reflection and pause. Through this navigation from the initial and more superficial attempt of the men to retreat into isolation to the demand, at the end, that they contend much more seriously with what patience and reflection is all about, Shakespeare instructs, through this tour touched with levity, how to take life seriously. It’s a wonderful lesson, and this brilliant production, done with inventiveness, energy and artistry by this small but very promising troupe, is worthy of considerable attention.

– BADMan (aka Charles Munitz)