I saw 'Love's Labours Lost' a few years ago at the Lowry Theatre in Manchester. I remember finding some of it funny, and also struggling to follow some of the conversations. Reading it over the past few days, I found some of it funny, but also struggled to follow some of the conversations. Much of the humour comes from wordplay and verbal trickery.
The story. The king of Navarre (a region which is now part of Spain) and his three lords swear to each other that for the next three years they will devote themselves to study, fighting against 'the huge army of the world's desires': abstaining from romance, decadent food, and parties. ("The mind shall banquet, though the body pine: fat paunches have lean pates, and dainty bits make rich the ribs, but bankrupt quite the wits.")
But the Princess of France and her three ladies pay a visit; the King and his lords fall in love. The women realise this and decide to mindfuck the men. Hilarity ensues.
You can tell from the title that they don't all pair up and live happily ever after, like in your average romantic story. Shakespeare has one of the lords comment on this: "Our wooing doth not end like an old play; Jack hath not Jill; these ladies' courtesy might well have made our sport a comedy."
Records suggest that this play might have had a sequel, 'Love's Labours Won', which is now lost. This lost play is the subject of the 2007 Doctor Who episode 'The Shakespeare Code', featuring the Tenth Doctor, Martha Jones, and three alien witches.
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