To avoid being fired, modern poetry lecturers Jackie and Kate tell their employers they discovered a long-lost play by William Shakespeare, Love’s Labour’s Found. The lie quickly spirals out of control when they’re invited to perform the “new” work at the 45th Shakespearean History International Teaching Conference (notice the acronym) the next day, aided and thwarter by a collection of zany characters such as one of their mothers, an actor, their boss and the dean, who is called Dean.
Written and performed by members of the Newcastle University Theatre Society, the ensuing farce has its moments but unfortunately lacks the internal reality to properly build from. To properly spiral, one must have a centre to start from (or finish with), and Love’s Labour’s Found, which chose its title to be similar but not identical to an actual (probably) lost Shakespeare play, Love’s Labour’s Won, entirely by chance and for no dramatical reason within the story, lacks that centre.
The two leads are sympathetic and funny in their panicking (not an easy feat), but the difference in age between character and actor compounds the cartoonishness of the piece and of the characters around them.
While the casts’ uncontested energy and commitment to their roles may win over some, the overall piece is here lesser than the sum of its parts.
Running August 17th – 22nd https://www.edfringe.com/tickets/whats-on/love-s-labour-s-found
Reviewer: Oliver Giggins
Reviewed: 17th August 2026
North West End UK / Theatre Muse UK Rating: