Love’s Labour’s Lost / Much Ado About Nothing (2026)

There has long been conjecture over the whereabouts of the mooted Shakespeare work Love’s Labour’s Won, with some parties believing it’s just another missing early modern play and others wondering if it was in fact reworked into Much Ado About Nothing. The Guildford Shakespeare Company and Orange Tree Theatre co-production (directed by Tom Littler) has taken the latter approach in their summer productions of Love’s Labour’s Lost and Much Ado, setting them either side of the Second World War and blending them into two parts of one story. I’ve previously seen a similar approach taken by the RSC, except theirs was either side of the First World War; whilst this fits with a charged and potentially hedonistic atmosphere in Much Ado, the late Edwardian setting didn’t do a lot for the comic potential of Love’s Labour’s Won. Going from thirties glamour in summer 1939 to RAF uniforms and slightly more muted outfits in summer 1945 really fits the bill – and the slight tweaks to the script to…