Christopher Garofalo as Dumaine (from left); John G. Williams as Berowne; Lee Cortopassi as The King of Navarre and Ashton Carter as Longaville do a kind of hip-hop dance (dressed as Russians) to entertain (and impress) the Princess of France and her ladies. (Photo by Shawn May)[/caption]

By Hugh Hunter

“Love's Labor's Lost,” an early Shakespeare comedy, is full of dazzling language. The high-energy revival now running at Quintessence Theatre in Mt. Airy buffs up its poetic brilliance with loads of colorful, physical comedy.

At the start, the King of Navarre coaxes his friends to sign an oath to shun women and join him in three years of study. But when the Princess of France arrives with her retinue, they fold up. At that point, Shakespeare's trademark comic idea kicks in: the lunacy of romantic infatuation.

The Princess (Mattie Hawkinson) is the heroine of the piece. Nothing in theater is harder than trying to play a character who is perfectly good. Yet Hawkinson pulls it off. Her discipline vies with her visible vulnerability as the Princess strives to bring reason to the yearning for love. It is a Barrymore caliber performance.

The other notable character is Berowne (John G. Williams), surely a stand-in for the bard himself. A courtier to the royal house, Berowne is both quick to anger and superbly intelligent. He scoffs at Navarre's ascetic ideal, yet he is painfully aware of the dangers and downside of passion.

These two characters set the stage; then the play turns into a romp, a carousel of scamps who swirl around Berowne and the Princess like painted ponies. And in this large cast, three veterans of the Quintessence troupe are especially eye-catching in their foolishness.

With his foppish stage movement, Josh Carpenter has fun with Don Adriano de Armado, a Spanish braggart. Holofernes (Gregory Isaac) is a hilariously pedantic school teacher, full of snobby Latin squibs and malapropisms; his sidekick Sir Nathaniel (John Basiulis), a sycophantic curate, makes these scenes even funnier.

Language remains the crowning grace of “Love's Labor's Lost.” Full of sonnets and verbal invention, Shakespeare comes up with a distinctive poetic voice for many of his characters. As impish Moth (Josiah Jacoby) puts it, "They have been at a great feast of languages and stolen the scraps.”

But the play is so verbally dense (try reading it some time) that the script has to share time with physical humor to make it stageworthy. Director Alexander Burns gets lots of help from his production team in transforming the play into a spectacle.

Kaki Burns and Ian Rose handle the choreography and fight scenes in a show that is full of stage movement. The costume design of Christina Bullard keeps surprising you, and Ronald Corp creates original songs, including a stirring choral Rondo that ends the work. And as with all Quintessence productions, dramatic bursts of light and sound signal scene changes (David Sexton and Alexander Burns).

Young Shakespeare truly found his voice in “Love's Labor's Lost,” using extraordinary poetry perhaps to free himself from Christopher Marlowe's sway. In later years, with the development of astoundingly psychological characters and a tragic sense of life, Shakespeare came to dwarf his rival forever.

Quintessence Theatre is located at 7137 Germantown Ave. “Love's Labor's Lost” will run in repertory with “The Broken Heart” through April 23. Tickets available at 215-987-4450 or online at Quintessencetheatre.org.