Theatre News

Stephen Joseph Theatre and Shakespeare North Playhouse announce Love’s Labour’s Lost (More or Less)

The show runs in Scarborough and Prescot

Alex Wood

Alex Wood

| Prescot | Scarborough |

20 August 2024

Artwork for Love's Labour's Lost (More or Less), artwork supplied by the production
Artwork for Love’s Labour’s Lost (More or Less), artwork supplied by the production

Shakespeare North Playhouse and Stephen Joseph Theatre have announced a new adaptation of Shakespeare’s Love’s Labour’s Lost titled Love’s Labour’s Lost (More or Less).

The adaptation, set in the mid-1990s in Ibiza, is co-written by Elizabeth Godber and Nick Lane. The production follows the success of the two theatres’ previous collaboration on The Comedy of Errors (More or Less) in 2023, which was nominated for a UK Theatre Award.

The story follows a stag party in Ibiza and a hen party in Menorca, whose paths cross unexpectedly, leading to the usual Shakespearean mix of mistaken identities, misplaced letters, and comedic confusion.

The production will open at Shakespeare North Playhouse from 28 February to 22 March 2025, before transferring to the Stephen Joseph Theatre from 27 March to 19 April 2025.

Co-writer Elizabeth Godber said: “I’m so excited to be back working with Nick, the SJT and Shakespeare North on another hilarious Shakespeare adaptation. Love’s Labour’s Lost is one of my favourite Shakespeare plays, and to get the chance to play around with the language, develop the (already great) female characters, and add in plenty of 1990s pop classics has been an absolute joy! I can’t wait for audiences to come and see the show. It’s funny, irreverent, and I’m sure Shakespeare would approve – he would have definitely been a Britpop fan!”

Further details, including casting and the creative team, will be announced in due course.

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