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"Switching
the sexes of roles in Shakespeare is old stuff.
Sarah Bernhardt as Hamlet was acclaimed in Paris
and ridiculed in London 104 years ago, and she
was a latecomer. But what the British adapter
and director Kit Thacker does for the Thirteenth
Night Theater Company's production of "Love's
Labour's Lost" at the TriBeCa Playhouse on
Reade Street at West Broadway through
April 12 is of a whole different order. He transposes
every role. Here the Queen, not King, of Navarre
makes a prince, not princess, of France camp in
the woods so the sight of his male courtiers will
not soil the chastity of her female court. The
voluble Berowne becomes Birona, Maria is Mario,
the "country wench" Jaquetta is Jaques,
a cuddly clod, and so on. The result is a strikingly
modern comedy about the frustrations of love among
passionate women and elusive men. Once you hear
Berowne's immortal cry of longing, "Oh my
little heart!" spoken by a woman you may
wonder why Shakespeare didn't think of that.
Mr.
Thacker makes smart cuts. Holofernes and the pretentious
parson are gone, and most of the bloated speeches
of the silly Spanish hidalgo Armado also disappear,
replaced brilliantly by outbursts of crooning
gush from Armada.
This
elegant adaptation reveals wit and precision in
every line, costume, glance, gesture and prop.
We find ourselves under a sliver of spring moon
on a fashionably minimalist terrace overlooking
the ocean — in the Hamptons, of course —
among young people whose class is betrayed by
their clothes, accents and affectations. There
is no mistaking who's money and who's staff.
Who
would have thought this early comedy could be
so stylishly updated? It is also in the right
place. The young TriBeCans who jam the tiers tend
to look and dress much like the characters, so
that the tickling emotional perplexity of the
people on stage always seems about to leap out
and seize the whole crowd. It's fun to watch.
(D.
J. R. BRUCKNER)
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