Thu 6/29-Sun 7/16
The Akron-based Ohio Shakespeare Festival kicks off its 2023 summer season at Stan Hywet Hall & Gardens, where it will present one of The Bard’s light-hearted romantic comedies, Love’s Labour’s Lost. Being performed outside under the stars in a bucolic garden setting lends the work a special enchantment.
The place revolves around a king and three titled friends who’ve given up women in favor of fasting and studying when a princess and her three ladies-in-waiting show up for a getaway nearby. As usual in Shakespeare’s comedies, there are disguises, mistaken identities and shifting affections. As you can imagine, fasting and studying are the main casualties.
Gates open at 6pm for picnicking and enjoying the beautiful surroundings. The greenshow — a short introductory piece — starts at 7:30, while the play itself begins at 8. Love’s Labour’s Lost will run through Sunday July 16. Its second play of the season at Stan Hywet, Twelfth Night, opens July 27.
Get tickets here.