CAST INCLUDED (from Theatre Record): Gemma Arterton (Rosaline); Trystan Gravelle (Berowne); Kobna Holdbrook-Smith (King of Navarre); Michelle Terry (Princess of France); Timothy Walker (Don Armado).

This production ran from 11 July - 7 October 2007, according to Theatre Record.

"Dominic Dromgoole's zestful production succeeds in captivating the audience to a degree that I would not have thought possible....It's a refreshing change, therefore, to see this most Elizabethan of Shakespeare's comedies presented in period. Jonathan Fensom's design is a delight, lashing large book-illustrations of trees to the pillars and sending an Elizabethan knot garden out into the courtyard - an elaborate hexagon that heightens a sense of the formality of the sparring between the young noblemen and the visiting ladies who distract them from their doomed attempt at self-denial."  ~ Paul Taylor, "Audience captivated by zestful production", Independent, 12 July 2007

"Jonathan Fensom's design, with elevated walkways jutting out into the audience, seems cumbersome rather than elegant. And though this is a play that almost always benefits from a clever update, the costumes are strictly Elizabethan with much Renaissance music played on shawms, various horns and something called a rackett, a not entirely unfair description of Claire van Kampen's score."  ~  Charles Spencer, "Love's labour's most laborious", Daily Telegraph, 13 July 2007

"Dominic Dromgoole's Renaissance dress production looks fetching. Michelle Terry's Princess and her attendants are a swirl of silk, in silver-green and apricot-gold. Ferdinand's parkland is prettily wooded with tapestry trees. But the cast struggle to bring the play to life. Kobna Holdbrook-Smith's Ferdinand needs far more zest; Timothy Walker's Don Armado is limply melancholic; his pageboy Moth (a high-pitched actress) lacks charm, and sparkiness is generally in short supply."  ~ Kate Bassett, "Cupid kills some with arrows, some with a heel to the groin", Independent on Sunday, 15 July 2007

"With a delightful design by Jonathan Fensom, jaunty musical interludes and an engaging and attractive cast, it has abundant charm. It also has, in the main, a pleasing nimbleness, achieved by a dint of much knockabout foolery....Timothy Walker's lovelorn Spanish braggart Armado is too ponderous. As his cheeky page Moth, however, the diminutive Seroca Davis is entirely enchanting - as is enough here besides to make this tricky work unusually diverting."  ~ Sam Marlowe, "The archers of love take aim", The Times, 16 July 2007

"Of the cast in this production, Michelle Terry is a delightfully feisty Princess of France, visiting the young courtiers of the King of Navarre and tempting them to break their rash vows of academic seclusion. Trystan Gravelle's laddish Berowne is endearingly daft while Kobna Holdbrook-Smith, as the King of Navarre, has the best comic timing of all."  ~ Helen Chappell, Tribune, 20 July 2007, in Theatre Record 2007, Issue 14

"Here, we get four average blokes speaking too fast for comprehension. Kobna Holdbrook-Smith's Ferdinand is a nothingy sort of fellow. Of his three sidekicks, only Trystan Gravelle's Berowne is distinguishable for his seething Celtic aggression. The lack of proper setting to the play leaves it reeling. Timothy Walker works hard as comedy foil Don Armado - the Spanish braggart who spends most of the time 'disputing' with his page - but the rhetorical exercises he puts Seroca Davis through seem baffingly pointless....The verse-speaking is ppor. The youngsters fail to land the jokes (hard) and rarely convey their meaning (easier). The oldsters fare better but are infuriatingly slow about it."  ~ Kieron Quirke, "Battle of wits is bogged down in laboured jokes", Evening Standard, 12 July 2007