The Royal Shakespeare Company has a duty to stage the plays of the Bard and bring them to new audiences, over 400 years since the works were written and this desire to attract new audiences and freshen the appeal of well-known titles does encourage Directors to seek new ways of staging the works. The latest production of the 1599 comedy As You Like It at the Stratford upon Avon is a clear demonstration that when you get the right director and a collection of experienced performers who speak with such beautiful clarity, the words delight and can be given a fresh zingy zesty feel. Even the late substitution due to the indisposition of the actor playing Jacques does not dampen the appeal fitting perfectly into the set-up.
The prologue by Michael Bertenshaw (Oliver in the play) explains the clever conceit that we are watching the reunion of the 1978 cast of the play, 45 years on, to restage from memory their version in a rehearsal room without costumes or props. He explains that six of the original actors could not return and their roles would be played by four younger actors ( sometimes with script in hand) and an old coat represents Adam (who would have been over 110 if he was still with them!). The set-up gives them plenty of scope to have fun with every aspect of the staging reminding us constantly that we are watching a theatrical rehearsal with direction being given and cast members interacting constantly with the audience in the shared jokes. It is this approach that breathes new life into the lines and adds freshness and energy to the cast that belies their ages.
Of course, the central character with, as written, over twice as many lines as anyone else, is Rosalind played by Geraldine James (at the age of 72) and this fabulous actress brings vivacity, charm and wit to the part. She totally convinced us that she has fallen for Orlando and has great fun parodying male physicality in her disguise as Ganymede. Opposite her Malcolm Sinclair (aged 73) makes an attractive Orlando from his amusingly staged arm wrestle with Charles (Ewart James Walters, 72) through his love forlorn poems in the Forest of Arden to delightful battles with Ganymede over the nature of love. They make a lovely couple together and show age is no barrier to love! Maureen Beattie (only 69) as Celia also charmingly finds love with Oliver.Running through the play is the wonderful comic creation of Touchstone played here by James Hayes, “a classical actor” who revels in the meta theatre and whose apprenticeship was 50 years at the National Theatre! He brings a playful joy to the role in ludicrous camp costumes including dressed it seems as a pinata! Even when he forgets a few lines while wooing Audrey (Cleo Silvestre, 78) he covers with such charm that you are unsure whether it is just part of the direction. There is a delightful comic business in every scene from nicking Orlando’s watch to shepherding balls of paper as sheep, it is a master class in clowning.
Director Omar Elerian clearly had a strong vision for this reinterpretation and carries it thorough with great skill using the company well so that despite the rather empty space of the rehearsal room they conjure up images from Shakespeare’s words and the witty additions which hint at the rehearsal process and the sense of an ensemble company enjoy the creative process. As the play progresses, we are drawn more into the storytelling rather than that process with more costumes and props to enhance the pictures. The designer, Ana Ines Jabares-Pita, joins the process of deconstructing the rehearsal room as fluorescent lights become swings and auditorium entrances become more used. The endings of Act 1 and Act 2 provide dramatic variation in the staging which you have to see the show to discover but did seem to jar a little with the directors’ vision and the new prologue. Equally the most famous speech of the play by Jacques, “All the world’s a stage” was rather muted played sat down upstage and it was unclear whether this was simply an accommodation for Christopher Saul stepping in well at short notice for Oliver Cotton or a deliberate choice early on. But it is speech that needs to be played in a more animated fashion.There is great support from the ensemble in their roles as shepherds and shepherdess, Dukes, and Lords each with occasional short cameos executed with perfect diction and expression as when Rose Wardlaw (one of the young players) is called on to play Le Beau with a comical French accent.
In the seven ages of man, many of this cast might in Shakespeare day been in the seventh age but while they may have the look of “The sixth age shifting Into the lean and slippered pantaloons, with spectacles on nose and pouch on side” they demonstrate with joyous glee that 400 years on 70 is not a time “that ends this strange eventful history, is second childishness and mere oblivion, sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything” and instead is the new 5th age “full of wise saws and modern instances; and so he plays his part”. And this cast under the brilliant direction of Elerian certainly shows they know how to play their parts in this wonderful fresh staging of As You Like It. Review by Nick Wayne
Rating: ★★★★
Rating: Row H, Stalls | Price of Ticket: £52.50
