Theater Beat : ‘Love’s Labour’s Lost’ Moves Along Briskly Outdoors

With its airy, agreeable rendering of “Love’s Labour’s Lost,” the Foliage Theater Project once again fulfills its dual mission as both a professional purveyor of free culture and an educational resource.

Creatively employing the Hancock Park environs as a backdrop for a pared-down version of Shakespeare’s oddest comedy, this roving production never tarries overlong in one spot and keeps the action moving at a brisk clip. An instructional question-and-answer session geared for children follows each performance.

A more consistent ensemble compared to years past makes for an even-keeled depiction of arrogantly intellectual gentlemen (Michael Louden, Russell Edge, Bryan Bellomo and Graham McCann) getting their romantic comeuppance from their more emotionally adept ladies (Lauren Daniels, Shirley Roeca, Sacha Vaughn and Laura Pruden). Broad caricatures of various social classes are amusingly supplied by Dallas Dickerson’s schoolmaster, Stuart Galbraith’s curate, Jihad Harik’s constable, Barry Cutler’s clown, Patrick Towne’s servant, Robert Brink’s amorous Spaniard, and versatile Dean Jacobson in multiple roles.

The production also benefits from access to a more expansive, scenic locale than last year’s construction-hampered stagings, roosting in a new amphitheater for the boisterous finale.

Nevertheless, this play presents some unique challenges, especially in its startlingly somber, unresolved ending, and the compromises are apparent in director Alexander Yannis Stephano’s efforts to keep the tone buoyant. The company has already exhausted the Shakespeare comedies that most easily lend themselves to the pastoral setting, and in an introductory speech, artistic director Deborah Faust raised the possibility of tackling some of the Bard’s tragedies. An ambitious prospect, but one that could easily exceed the inherently cheery, fun ambience; classical comedies outside the Shakespeare canon would also be worthy candidates.

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* “Love’s Labour’s Lost,” Hancock Park, starting at the corner of Ogden and Sixth, Los Angeles. Saturdays and Sundays, 4 p.m. Ends Oct. 3. Free. No reservations required. Running time: 1 hour, 40 minutes.