For where is any author in the world teaches such beauty as a women's eye? The King of Navarre persuades his courtiers to join him in renouncing the world for three years of study. Foremost amongst their undertakings is a promise to forsake the company of women; but no sooner have they taken their oath than a beautiful French princess and her female attendants arrive at the palace gates on a diplomatic mission. It is love at first sight, of course; and then each man faces the challenge of wooing his lady without breaking his vow and without allowing the others to find out. Formal and scholarly, rich in wordplay and poetic invention, "Love's Labour's Lost" is perhaps the most demanding of Shakespeare's comedies, but on this recording Sir Derek Jacobi, Jeremy Brett and Geraldine McEwan lead a distinguished cast in a lively performance.
