Shakespeare's Globe stages flamenco-infused Love's Labour's Lost

Shakespeare's Globe in London is presenting Love's Labour's Lost with a flamenco twist, directed by Indiana Lown-Collins. The production, running during a heatwave, transforms the wordy comedy into a visceral experience with live guitar, heeled boots, and complex rhythms. Lown-Collins, half-Spanish, grew up with flamenco and saw the Globe's oak stage as ideal for its acoustics. The play's themes of passion, love, sex, and death align with flamenco's emotional range. Strong female characters mirror the matriarchal heart of flamenco, as the princess and her ladies take over a male-dominated court. Only two professional flamenco dancers (Pablo Egea and Anita La Maltesa) are in the cast; others undergo daily three-hour bootcamps with choreographer Carmen Igarza. The rhythms also reflect the play's dense couplets. Music is by flamenco guitarists Michael McMahon and Adrián Solá, with singer Carlos Lobo Cordón. The production aims to bring audiences out of their heads and into their bodies, ending with a jig to encourage dancing.