Navarre shall be the wonder of the world;
Our court shall be a little Academe,
Still and contemplative in living art.
— Ferdinand Act I Sc 1

The King of Navarre and his friends vow to spend three years in secluded study, but the arrival of the Princess of France and her attendants undermines their resolve...

Love's Labour's Lost is a witty battle of the sexes. Four idealistic men more than find their match in four resourceful women as Love triumphs over Academe. A crowd of comic characters - led by an eccentric Spaniard - create confusion as the plot twists and turns towards a surprising end.

The play offers spectacle, music and dance - all part of the tradition established by the Abbey Shakespeare Players in the magical setting of St Dogmaels Abbey.

From women's eyes this doctrine I derive:
They sparkle still the right Promethean fire;
They are the books, the arts, the academes,
That show, contain, and nourish all the world.
— Berowne Act IV Sc 3