Love's Labour's Lost (version 2) - Free Audiobook
1/6Dramatis Personae
Love's Labour's Lost (version 2)
Note XXII.
Note XXII.
iv. 2. 1. The Quarto and Folios agree, with slight differences of spelling, in the stage direction given in the note. The Town Clerk is clearly the same functionary as the Sexton mentioned in the second line.
The first speech is given in the Quarto and Folios to ‘Keeper’—a misprint for ‘Kemp’—the name of the famous actor who played Dogberry. All the other speeches of Dogberry throughout the scene, except two, are given to ‘Kemp,’ those of Verges to ‘Cowley’ or ‘Couley.’ Both Willam Kempt (i. e. Kempe or Kemp) and Richard Cowley are mentioned in the list of the ‘Principall Actors’ prefixed to the first Folio. The speech of Dogberry, line 4, is assigned to ‘Andrew,’ which is supposed to be a nickname of Kemp, who so often played the part of ‘Merry Andrew.’ That in lines 14, 15, is given in the Quarto to ‘Ke.’ and in the Folios to ‘Kee.’ or Keep.,’ a repetition of the error in line 1. The retention of these names in the successive printed copies, as well as that of ‘Jack Wilson’ in a former scene, shows the extreme carelessness with which the original MS. had been revised for the press in the first instance, and supplies a measure of the editorial care to which the several Folios were submitted. All that is known about these actors is collected in a volume edited by Mr Collier for the Shakespeare Society.
About
Temptations and infatuations abound in this sparklingly linguistic early comedy from Shakespeare, where cerebral pursuits and ascetic intentions prove no match for the nobles of Navarre’s royal court when the Princess of France and her attendants arrive on a political mission and find themselves enmeshed in a mission of far more amorous ambitions. An entertaining battle of sexes, wits and classes ensues as the great master of the English language concocts a roundelay of semantic gamesmanship, mixing high lyricism, bawdy wordplay and a fair degree of scholarly satire together with elastic dexterity to poke fun at masculine romantic ideations and female objectification, the ambiguities of communication, as well as the ignorance of the seemingly cultured societal sets. And then, in a stunning tonal turn mere moments before the play’s conclusion that manages to thwart all our expectations, the young Shakespeare grounds this heretofore exuberant work in a startlingly mature realism that is far removed from his most popular comedies, lending Love’s Labour’s Lost both a worldliness and honesty that marks it as a work of astonishing complexity.
And to perform it all? Three men (Craig Franklin, Tomas Peter, and Brad “Hamlet” Filippone) and three women (Sonia, Jenn Broda, and Kelly S. Taylor), determined to give you a performance of Shakespeare's work that you will never forget. You thought you knew your Shakespeare? Well, think again! - Summary by Tomas Peter
Cast list: Craig Franklin: Narrator; Costard; Dumain; Maria & Marcade. Brad “Hamlet” Filippone: Biron; Holofernes & French Lord. Jenn Broda: The Princess of France; Dull & Ver (the Spring). Kelly S. Taylor: Ferdinand, King of Navarre; Katharine; Jaquenetta & Forester. Sonia: Rosaline; Moth; Longaville & Hiems (the Winter). Tomas Peter: Don Adriano de Armado; Boyet & Sir Nathaniel.
Other versions of Love's Labour's Lost (version 2)
- Love's Labour's Lost — narrated by multiple narrators · English
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