The Costumes
The world of our play is set in the 1950’s. Director Brenda DeVita wanted to focus on the beauty and the comedy of this play and knew this period would allow for this. The 1950’s in America was full of life and possibility after the horrors of the second world war. There was an energy and beauty that was vibrant at that time that she felt would be a much welcome respite coming out of the current pandemic of the past couple of years. The color coordination of our world was set to help the audience keep track of the couples, and also to amp up a colorful world where love and comedy can thrive. In the scene where the ladies need to be masked in order to fool the men, this allowed for assistance in our suspension of disbelief in that confusion with color coordinated hats, robes, and sunglasses.
The Set
Most productions are set in the court of Navarre or perhaps the King’s castle or home. We decided to get more specific since the time period has been pushed forward a bit and take advantage of specifically setting it at a University. This allowed for us to begin the play with a prologue to indicate a raucous party the night before the boys get serious about getting down to strict study without indulgences or distractions. The very colorful flowers and green grass amplify another element of beauty in this world and remind us of nature in relationship to human nature.
The Sound
Music plays a large role in our production. Some songs were added for practical reasons like costume changes, but we also wanted the music to allow for joy and catchy rhythms and harmonies. Hearing the men and women sing in harmony together can indicate the comradery in both sets of friends. Moth’s songs are always in the play and were written by sound designer Sartje Picket with the actor in mind to be able to accompany themselves on ukelele. The final song of the play “Love’s Labour’s Lost, Love’s Labour’s Won” was rewritten from what is usually in the script. Shakespeare’s song, “The Owl and the Cuckoo” had some lyrics that felt a bit outdated for our setting of the 1950’s.
Voice and Text
The word play and language in this play begins to sound and read like one long poem shared by many of the characters. An idea or word may be introduced that is later picked up by another character 3 pages later. The more you see it and hear it, the more it begins to sound like a song in it’s rhythms, rhymes and wit. Much of this play has specific rhyming elements that allow for comedy, beauty, and a fierce battle of wit and wisdom.
Context of the Play
At the heart of this play is an element of young people learning how to grow up and become the people they want to be. The first line of the play is spoken by the King: “Let fame, that all hunt after in their lives live registerd upon our brazen tombs and then grace us in the disgrace of death.” In our current digital age of social media, zoom, selfies, TikTok, influencers, etc; young people now more than ever are easily bombarded with an idea of fame and the reputation they want to portray in the world. For the young men and women of this play, they are trying to figure out what kind of people they want to be.
For characters like the King and the Princess, this pressure is amplified by their great responsibility as leaders. How love and relationships fit into this time of one’s life can be complex while trying to figure out who you are as an individual.
Characters like Berowne clumsily try to prove their fierce intelligence and wit to those around them at all costs. For some of the older characters in the play, they also are learning lessons on the power of their own language and thought. They have much to learn from each other by getting out of their own self absorption and pride. The end of this play is bittersweet as the fooling and play end and responsibility and duty begin.
This is a very gendered world and a very gendered time period. The idea that the men will get more serious about their studies without women around is interesting to unpack. When the women arrive, the pressure and assumption that they will perhaps make matches with these men could be argued to be as true in 1950’s America as it was in Shakespeare’s time. Not many jobs would be available to women post World War II as the men have all come back home and taken their jobs back.
The expectation to marry and have a family was something that many women in the 1950’s would feel pressured by society to accomplish. There are studies and theories that the great baby boom of this time may have been result of the unspoken need and energy for life to carry on. However, the pressure put on women to be mothers and caretakers also increased as well.
The class and status of the characters in this world would be expected to remain virgins until marriage, and divorce would be much more rare than it is today. In many ways characters like Costard and Jaquenetta are more free in terms of their sexuality as they are not under the pressure to obey the ordinance of the King or to marry in the same way.
Credits:
Liz Lauren