Love's Labour's Lost: RSC

I'll never be converted to the comedies. There are simply too many irritants built into their structure: "comic" rustics (Costard); wilful disguise and subsequent misunderstandings (the princess and her women wearing masks in retaliation at the men disguising themselves as Muscovites); a deeply distasteful cruelty displayed towards the lower orders by the aristocrats (the mean jibes throughout the Nine Worthies scene); and plots that never seem to go anywhere. Give me the dramatic tension of the histories and tragedies any day. Love's Labour's Lost sparks to life whenever David Tennant's Berowne takes centre stage. His relaxed comic timing is a delight, especially compared to the laboured machinations elsewhere. The comedy Spaniard Don Armado also proves a highpoint, forever manging English grammar and syntax. He works far better than the endlessly tedious Holofernes and his sidekick. There is also a delightfully simple set comprising a tree centre-stage with "branches" and "leaves" hanging down from the rafters. It provides both a backdrop and a handy hiding place, and doesn't distract from everything else. Alas, there are moments in the play when one wishes that it did!