This is a a joyous, warm and sunny romantic comedy that had the entranced audience in frequent fits of laughter .Director Eamon Flack has devised a tremendous production, the ‘standard’ text slightly adapted and abridged ,with a brilliant cast and production team. The themes of young love, love that transforms everything,self analysis and how Arden is a strange magical forest with the capacity to change people who enter it are wonderfully developed and exploited by Flack.
There is some doubling/tripling of roles and particularly in the Forest of Arden itself a dizzying confusion of cross dressing – men playing women and women playing men – even more tangled than in the actual script ( eg Gareth Davies as a terrific, chain smoking rather uncouth Phoebe and Shelly Lauman as the handsome ,glowing yet troubled shepherd Silvius in love with Phoebe ).
There is fine ensemble work from all and enormous fun with the cast as sheep – cud chewing , silly hats and costumes, frisking and with silly tics of movement, lying down or running away startled from the audience – wonderful
There is some fine singing of at one point a madrigal like song and some riotous miming by Touchstone and sheep to music from Verdi’s ‘ Rigoletto’ in an attempt to impress and woo Audrey. The strolling musicians also have a portable keyboard, violin and other music inserted where appropriate.
The early court scenes leading up to Rosalind and Celia’s sudden banishment are galloped through and in this version Orlando and Jacques de Boys wrestling match is off-stage.
Alison Bell as Rosalind/Ganymede is tremendous.and has a whale of a time ‘magically’ putting things to right at the end. Whether in a floaty floral print dress or obvious in disguise as a very feminine ‘boy’ in shirt, trousers and tiny moustache she is excellent.
As Orlando hunky Ashley Zuckerman is totally charming and believable as the neglected nobleman and aching lover.
Charlie Garber has the difficult role of the not so good fool Touchstone and is magnificent . His jokes – and some others – have at times been rewritten for modern audiences but most of the wordplay which now can seem obscure and fall flat has been kept but interwoven with asides and interplay that keep it fresh and relevant. ( ‘But it was clever! ‘) When in Arden he wears a blanket like cloak around him and carries a wand. a sort of superhero or wizard in disguise perhaps?! Or just a courtier turned shepherd doing his job ?
As Rosalind’s tomboyish cousin Celia,petite,elfin Yael Stone is terrific when in disguise with Dame Edna like glasses and headband in the Forest .
In the dual role of blustery, dominating and cruel Duke Frederick and melancholy Jacques ,Billie Brown was most impressive. As Jacques he didn’t really seem that particularly melancholy – perhaps he kept it hidden – but there was always an aura of him being a rather aloof outsider who didn’t quite fit in. His world weary ‘seven ages of man’ speech was beautifully done. His rushing off at the end to join the Duke in a religious house could come as somewhat of a surprise if you weren’t familiar with the play but understandable .But why then the ending with the Narcissus like looking in the pool ?
As Oliver, Orlando’s brother, dishy Hamish Michael is at first mean and taunting but his unexpected love for Celia changes that and he becomes quite charming.
Alistair Watt’s set is deceptively sparse and simple, basically comprising a clear empty curtained space with some moveable pieces of scenery (representing a tree or a pool for instance) and assorted props like folding picnic chairs. The opening court scenes are played in the audience with the houselights up . ‘Arden’ is represented by green curtains – Orlando’s poems are mostly post it notes ( a single solitary flower mid stage, rather Middummer Night’s Dream like, with one of Orlando’s poems attached is eaten by a sheep ). At the end, all is revealed, as a golden reflective mirror.
This is a shimmering totally delightful production that will have you leaving the theatre with a huge grin.
Highly recommended, Eamon Flack’s production of the Bard’s AS YOU LIKE IT opened upstairs at Belvoir Street on Wednesday 23rd November and plays until Saturday 24th December, 2011.
© Lynne Lancaster
2nd December, 2011
Tags: AS YOU LIKE IT, William Shakespeare, Belvoir Street theatre, Eamon Flack, Alison Bell, Billie Brown, Gareth Davies, Casey Donovan, Charlie Garber, Trevor Jamieson, Shelly Lauman, Hamish Michael, Dan Russell, Yael Stone, Tim Walter, Ashley Zukerman, Alistair Watts.