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Tuesday, 4 July 2023

REVIEW: The RSC's As You Like It at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre



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. 
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Friday, 2 July 2021

REVIEW: As You Like It at the Watermill Theatre


Live Theatre is back and the Watermill Newbury which has quietly worked away to keep its venue open whenever it could throughout the pandemic again stages an outdoor season, but you can sense the air of change as soon as you arrive. As you like it is a perfect play for the time and the location on the back lawn of the venue. The temporary stage fashioned from recycled sets is backed by an evergreen hedge and the “babbling brook” runs down to the old mill behind the audience at tables across the lawn. We are transported to an eco-friendly world of The Forest of Arden.

This updated version (by Yolanda Mercy) of Shakespeare’s 1599 comedy is set in the modern-day and sharply contrasts the corporate commercial world of the Court in the first 30 minutes with the joyous celebration of a group of eco-warriors camping out and camping up (especially Tom Sowinski as the old servant Adam) amongst the trees. As we settle in our seats, we see Orlando, in overalls and protective gloves, clearing away the plastic bags and debris from the stage before the court arrives. It is a dry unexciting opening in which neither the Duke nor his brother Oliver seems scheming or evil enough as Orlando and Rosalind are banished from the Court. Only in the wrestling match between Orlando and Charles (Jamie Satterthwaite), which is wonderfully choreographed by Anjali Mehra, does the action and tension rise.
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Friday, 13 July 2018

REVIEW: As You Like It at Regent’s Park, Open Air Theatre


We used to go on the internet to connect with the real world. Now, we turn off all our devices to be able to finally connect with it. The forest of Arden seems to be this place where everything is turned off, and we can connect to nature and the people we come across, really listen and not resort to violence but choose communication and love. In the times we are in, this Forest could not seem timelier. And what a better place than Regent’s Park Open Air theatre, with its Roman architecture and enchanting gardens and lights, to help us reconnect with our senses?

“As you like it” is the comedy by William Shakespeare that keeps restating the endless existence and importance of love. Sometimes it hurts, other times it keeps you alive. After being banished from the Court, Rosalind and her dear friend Celia flee to the Forest of Arden, Rosalind dressing as man to protect herself. Orlando, who has fallen in love with Rosalind at first sight after an earlier wrestling match, also escapes the Court in his lovesickness. The lovers’ paths will cross, but Rosalind, now Ganymede, will not reveal who she really is until she feels she can do this safely. In the forest, games of seduction, battles of wit and musical cheerfulness by its many colourful characters warm us with increasing humanity. 
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