“Love's Labour Lost' plays Guilford Green"
Jamerlyn Brown
August 4, 2007

GUILFORD — British critic Kenneth Tynan said on his deathbed, "No theater could sanely flourish until there was an umbilical connection between what was happening on stage and what was happening in the world." The Connecticut Free Shakespeare troupe has interpreted these words to the fullest.

From Thursday to Aug. 12, the Connecticut Free Shakespeare group will perform its adaptation of Shakespeare's "Love's Labour's Lost" on the Guilford Green at the sixth Annual Shakespeare on the Shoreline event.

Connecticut Free Shakespeare has been growing rapidly over the last few years. And if the name and intentions sound familiar, it is probably because the troupe used to be called Bridgeport Free Shakespeare, their work featured solely at the Beardsley Zoo in Bridgeport. But when Elm Shakespeare Company opted out of its annual Guilford performance to do rotating repertory in New Haven, the Shoreline Arts Alliance welcomed them to the historic Guilford Green.

The change of name, made last November, came at a time of growing popularity and expansion.

"Last year we were invited to go to Guilford as well as to perform our plays and we have it in the back of our mind that we're looking for another location," says Lieberman, "so we decided to become Connecticut Free Shakespeare."

Lieberman lights up when talking about the Guilford Green audience. "The audience is enormous and very appreciative," she says.

Founded by Bert Garskof and wife Ellen Lieberman 8 years ago, Connecticut Free Shakespeare aims to shave off some of the esoteric layers of Shakespearian drama to make the Bard's work more accessible to a broad range of people. English teachers and professors needn't fear; Garskof, executive producer, and Lieberman, creative director, know what they are doing.

With an impressive body of successful adaptations including "Much Ado About Nothing," "Romeo & Juliet," "As You Like It" and many more, Connecticut Free Shakespeare manages to preserve the paramount messages of Shakespeare's dramas while adding a fresh spin to familiar (or not so familiar) plots.

Garskof explains, "What we do is very unique ... Shakespeare would want to update and upgrade the material to make it work for the audience he's trying to entertain."

"Love's Labour's Lost" is one of the lesser-known, but intensely dense Shakespearian comedies. Thick with puns and allusions, it poses a daunting challenge to the creative minds behind Connecticut Free Shakespeare, one they are eager to tackle.

They begin by setting the play in the early 1960s where the drama focuses on a group of friends from the fraternity Kappa Kappa. After taking an oath to eschew all women, the young men soon encounter a roadblock in their path to innocence when they meet the ladies of a neighboring sorority.

Ellen Lieberman, who is the sister of Sen. Joseph Lieberman (I-Conn.), insists that no matter how challenging, the effort is a rewarding one. Punctuated with dance numbers and familiar songs from the 60s, "Love's Labour's Lost" makes a full commitment to entertain the audience while rendering a new understanding of Shakespeare.

"We worked on it tirelessly," Lieberman says, "and also with great pleasure. When we would get it and make it clear and accessible, we would experience these eureka moments."

Even on its break, it strives to keep the audience entertained. "We do something in our shows that we call a living intermission: That means that the intermission stays alive and actors stay in character," says Garskof. "We sing and interact with the audience and we have other songs from 1963 that we sing."

In another twist, Lieberman has spiced up the gender roles. She explains, "There are very few female parts in this play. There are very few female parts in any Shakespearian drama. I've taken a lot of the roles and changed them to female parts. Actually, I have everyone falling in love and it works beautifully."

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Jamerlyn Brown, a sophomore at Columbia University, is a Register intern.

©CT Central 2007