Critics laud Tennant in Labour's

Doctor Who star David Tennant has been praised for his performance in a new production of Shakespeare's Love's Labour's Lost in Stratford-upon-Avon.

According to Daily Express critic Neil Norman, the Scottish actor "is at home on the stage in a great RSC company as he is at the controls of the Tardis".

The Guardian's Michael Billington said his comedic role as Berowne "confirms Tennant's Shakespearean status."

The production continues in tandem with Tennant's sold-out staging of Hamlet.

Both productions play in repertoire at the Royal Shakespeare's Company's Courtyard Theatre until 15 November.

Abstinence

Hamlet, in which Tennant plays the title role, will transfer in the following month to London's Novello Theatre.

"The RSC may well have another hit on their hands"
Razia Iqbal, BBC Arts correspondent

In Love's Labour's Lost, Tennant - using his native Scottish accent - plays one of four lords who live to regret taking a vow of sexual abstinence.

The play was last staged by the RSC in 1993 and was filmed by Kenneth Branagh in 2000.

The production, directed by Gregory Doran, shares a number of actors with Hamlet, among them Oliver Ford-Davies and Mariah Gale.

According to BBC arts correspondent Razia Iqbal, Tennant began rehearsals for Love's Labour's Lost "almost immediately" after Hamlet opened in August.

"The RSC may have another hit on their hands, which is surprising given the play is Shakespeare's most forgettable early comedy," she said.

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