Love’s Labour’s Lost

Name: Love’s Labour’s Lost
Author: William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare

free · 22,853 words · 2 h 47 m audiobook, read by volunteers for LibriVox · first published 1598

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Dramatis Personae

Ferdinand, King of Navarre
Biron, lord attending on the King
Longaville, lord attending on the King
Dumain, lord attending on the King
Boyet, lord attending on the Princess of France
Mercade, lord attending on the Princess of France
Don Adriano de Armado, a fantastical Spaniard
Sir Nathaniel, a curate
Holofernes, a schoolmaster
Dull, a constable
Costard, a clown
Moth, page to Armado
A forester
The Princess of France
Rosaline, lady attending on the Princess
Maria, lady attending on the Princess
Katharine, lady attending on the Princess
Jaquenetta, a country wench
Lords, attendants, etc.

Scene: Navarre.

Act I

restoring your place…

fetching the rest…

More by William Shakespeare

A Midsummer Night’s Dream
You get a play that keeps changing its mind about love, from the quarrelling lovers in the forest to Bottom blundering through his amateur performance. The language is playful and slippery, and Puck gives the whole thing a mischievous sense that human beings are never quite in control.
All’s Well That Ends Well
Helena chases a man who plainly doesn't deserve her, and the play knows it, which is what makes it interesting. If you like your comedies uneasy, with a bed trick and an ending that only half convinces, this one will stick with you.
Antony and Cleopatra
These two aren't young lovers, they're middle-aged, vain, magnificent messes who keep wrecking empires over each other, and you half want to shake them. Stay for Enobarbus, the dry-eyed friend whose barge speech about Cleopatra is worth the whole play.

Dramatis Personae

Ferdinand, King of Navarre

Biron, lord attending on the King

Longaville, lord attending on the King

Dumain, lord attending on the King

Boyet, lord attending on the Princess of France

Mercade, lord attending on the Princess of France

Don Adriano de Armado, a fantastical Spaniard

Sir Nathaniel, a curate

Holofernes, a schoolmaster

Dull, a constable

Costard, a clown

Moth, page to Armado

A forester

The Princess of France

Rosaline, lady attending on the Princess

Maria, lady attending on the Princess

Katharine, lady attending on the Princess

Jaquenetta, a country wench

Lords, attendants, etc.

Scene: Navarre.

More by William Shakespeare

A Midsummer Night’s Dream

You get a play that keeps changing its mind about love, from the quarrelling lovers in the forest to Bottom blundering through his amateur performance. The language is playful and slippery, and Puck gives the whole thing a mischievous sense that human beings are never quite in control.

All’s Well That Ends Well

Helena chases a man who plainly doesn't deserve her, and the play knows it, which is what makes it interesting. If you like your comedies uneasy, with a bed trick and an ending that only half convinces, this one will stick with you.

Antony and Cleopatra

These two aren't young lovers, they're middle-aged, vain, magnificent messes who keep wrecking empires over each other, and you half want to shake them. Stay for Enobarbus, the dry-eyed friend whose barge speech about Cleopatra is worth the whole play.