Love’s Labour’s Lost Arrives on Boston Common

The award-winning Commonwealth Shakespeare Company’s Free Shakespeare on the Common returns tonight with Love’s Labour’s Lost, running through August 7. Photo by Ryan Maxwell

This week, the Commonwealth Shakespeare Company takes up its annual summer residence on the Boston Common with a production of one of the Bard’s earliest comedies, Love’s Labour’s Lost, which runs through Sunday, August 7. Admired for free, innovative productions of the Shakespeare canon each season, the CSC is currently celebrating its 21st season, and its 20th on the Common.

Love’s Labour’s Lost is lighthearted summer evening fare, filled with romance, dazzling, sophisticated wordplay, and unexpected twists and turns. It opens with the King of Navarre and his three closest male companions taking an oath to forgo the company of women for three years so they can devote themselves to studying and fasting. Those plans quickly go awry with the arrival of the Princess of Aquitaine and three ladies-in-waiting, who have come to meet the king and discuss the cession of Aquitaine. This being a Shakespeare comedy, the king soon falls in love with the princess, and his lords with her ladies. Romantic sparring and hidden disguises ensue. The play is ultimately an eloquent testimony to the power of love.

One of Shakespeare’s less frequently produced comedies, Love’s Labour’s Lost contains the longest speech in any of his work, as well as the longest scene and the longest word: honorificabilitudinitatibus.”

“Love’s Labour’s Lost for me is about growing up, about leaving behind adolescent attitudes towards love and gaining an understanding of the power and responsibility of loving another person,” says play director Steven Maler, CSC founding director. “We really get to witness the young Shakespeare at work here; he charms the audience, but also creates moments that touch the heartstrings of young and old alike. While one of his early plays, we can see Love’s Labour’s Lost as the beginning of his exploration of these themes, characters, and situations in many of his later works.”

Maler was recently awarded the Elliot Norton Award for Sustained Excellence by the Boston Theater Critics Association. Judges cited the CSC’s decadeslong presentation of “magical evenings, helmed by Maler and enjoyed by thousands, that have introduced sundry Bostonians not only to Shakespeare but to professional theater and have played a significant role in making Boston a first-class theater town.”

A few things to know if attending a Shakespeare on the Common production for the first time: first, arrive early. The productions have become so popular that crowds begin gathering hours before curtain for the best view of the stage, next to the Common’s Parkman Bandstand. Most performances are preceded by a Commonwealth Concert, sponsored by the New England Conservatory and the Free for All Concert Fund, featuring performances in a wide range of musical styles. You can rent a chair for $5 or bring your own chair or blanket. The CSC runs a concession stand (cash preferred) and food can be purchased from Earl of Sandwich or from a Ben & Jerry’s ice cream truck, both in the Common. Additional food vendors are present on Saturdays and Sundays. Visitors can also bring their own food. Note: alcohol is not permitted on the Common. Mosquito repellent and an umbrella are good ideas. Productions are free, but donations to help fund the nonprofit’s future productions are encouraged.

The Commonwealth Shakespeare Company’s production of Love’s Labour’s Lost runs from July 20 through August 7 at the Boston Common’s Parkman Bandstand, across from the AMC Loews Boston Common on Tremont Street. Performances are Tuesday through Saturday at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 7 p.m., with one matinee, on Saturday, August 6, at 3 p.m. Admission is free, although a donation of $10 is encouraged. Chair rentals are $5, plus a $5 deposit. Weather may delay or cancel performances. Check the CSC website, Facebook page, or Twitter account or call the weather hotline, 617-426-0863, two hours before the show for cancellations. Take the MBTA Green or Red Line to Park Street or the Orange Line to Chinatown or Downtown Crossing. The play’s running time, including intermission, is two and a half hours.