As You Like It

The first impact was from the beautiful space at Tyler Hill Hall, that was to be our stage and auditorium for the balmy evening of Friday 26th July 2024. A beautiful dell with mature trees, the greenest grass, and, for the play action, strategically placed shrubs and bushes. The backdrop was a rising hill and pastures in the near distance. We, the audience, were congregated on ‘the rise’ from the ‘performance valley.’ And - the weather was set fair. Our expectations were to be surpassed.

The production ‘rocked’ along as the cast clearly enjoyed their encounter with Mr W Shakespeare. Setting the play in the 60’s worked amazingly well. Costumes and music had ‘flower power' and this summer of love was very comfortably placed here for our evening’s entertainment of As You Like It. Ryan Hawkins was a self-assured Orlando - and Grace Catchpole was an exceptional Rosalind. Sure-footed and a convincingly strong woman. The whole cast were totally immersed in their roles, the environment, and the interaction. As an audience member it was as if we had a secret window spying on the various encounters.

Technically, everything was on song. Sound was good and the lighting definitely added atmosphere as dusk made it’s presence known. It was a lovely evening – and personally it brought back memories of my school days when ‘As You Like It’ was the set play for my GCE ‘O’ level in 1960! I think I passed – but I definitely know that this evening was an A+.

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