In his zany comedy “Love’s Labour’s Lost,” Shakespeare quadrupled the romance factor: There’s not one, not two, but four young couples, and they engage in four times the amount of word play, flirtation, disguises and assorted shenanigans.
But this wasn’t quite enough for director Karin Coonrod, who, for this new Public Theater production, put the turbo on and upped the pace and antics times 10 (while losing the “u” in “Labour”). At times, the effort pays off; others, the show madly spins its wheels.
Considering how busy the play is, its plot is relatively straightforward. The King of Navarre (Hoon Lee) and his three lords swear to forgo women while they focus on their studies. No sooner have they made that decision than the fetching Princess of France (Renée Elise Goldsberry, last seen in “Good People”) shows up with a trio of sexy, mischievous ladies. Cupid’s arrows find their targets, and the men quickly toss off their scholarly quest.
Shakespeare also throws in a comically pedantic schoolmaster (Steven Skybell), a bumbling local policeman (Robert Stanton), a clown (Mousa Kraish) and a cartoonish Spanish gentleman (Reg E. Cathey, whose accent could use a bit of “Puss in Boots” flair).
This being part of the Public’s Lab initiative, where tickets cost only $15, the set is minimal — here, a central square of AstroTurf — and the emphasis is on intimate directness and accessibility.
So one of the boys exclaims “Boo-yah!” and the Princess and her giggling girl gang break into Beyoncé’s “Put a Ring on It” move.
At its best, the show has a giddy enthusiasm. But all these exertions, all this expense of energy can be draining, too. The show, while not devoid of charm, lacks the organic, effortless sense of mayhem of the Propeller company’s gloriously zany “Comedy of Errors” at BAM this past spring. Being funny is hard work, but it shouldn’t look like it.