As You Like It

As You Like It by William Shakespeare was written around   1599. Set in the French Duchy and Forest or Arden the story revolves around Orlando, younger son of the deceased Sir Roland de Boys, and Rosalind, daughter of the exiled Duke Senior. After meeting fleetingly and falling in love, both Orlando and Rosalind are forced away from their homes and seek refuge in the Forest of Arden (where the banished Duke now lives). Rosalind disguises herself as a young man, Ganymede, and her cousin Celia decides to leave with her and disguises herself as Ganymede’s sister, Aliena. They also take Touchstone with them, for company. Alongside this are other various love matches.

The audience are sat on three sides of a very large, and lower than the stage, extension which was purposely built for the production by Mac McKenzie, as were the black flats placed around the stage. This was the setting for the play so a great deal of imagination was needed.

A different take on the play sees Jacques, in this instance played by Alicia Bloundele, deliver so gloriously the famous speech, ’The Seven Ages of Man’ as a Prologue, where it is usually delivered in the middle of the play. Alicia, attired in a stunning black gown, throughout the play brought out so superbly the quiet moodiness and complexities of Jacques who always seemed to be watching the actions of others. The Prologue was followed by a song, sung and played on the guitar by Steve Newton, who acted as Musician throughout the play. We then meet Orlando and Adam, who is busily cleaning riding boots. Chris Pawley, as Adam, portrayed the kindly and unassuming nature of him, perfectly. He shows his loyalty to Orlando by advising him to leave, as his brother has vowed to kill him. Adam offers, not only to accompany him, but also to fund the journey with his modest savings. Orlando, superbly played by Phil McGough, is the youngest son of the deceased Sir Rowland de Boys and Phil wonderfully portrays the frustration he feels from being neglected by his older brother. This is particularly evident when an ensuing fight with him was so dramatically achieved. Phil has super acting skills and presents Orlando as a very charming and charismatic character full of romantic ideals, as seen from his poems that he writes to Rosalind and fastens to the trees (in this case the black flats). His exuberance and bravery are manifested on two distinct occasions. The first being when a wrestling match is arranged, supposedly to bring about his downfall. His opponent is the court wrestler Charles, played by Tim Rogers, a formidable character with quite scary looking black and white face makeup. Orlando wins against all odds but unfortunately, we never got to see the actual match, just heard the cheering! Another instance is when he risks his life to save Adam from a lion. Following the wrestling match Orlando meets Rosalind and there is an instant rapport between them and Rosalind gives him her necklace. What an outstanding performance came from Tess Edmonds as Rosalind. It is an enormous part, supposedly the biggest role for a female in any of Shakespeare’s plays, and Tess gave it her all. Following her banishment to the Forest of Arden by Duke Frederick, Rosalind decides to take the opportunity to take control of her own destiny and to that end decides to disguise herself as a young man, Ganymede. Tess so convincingly captures the feistiness, the determination and kind heartedness of the character, particularly the clever understanding of the foolishness and the joy that love can bring. All of these traits were delivered with such fervent enthusiasm. Also as Ganymede, she continually tries to convince Orlando that she can help him with his love for Rosalind. Finally, after all the twists and turns and involvements, Ganymede orders them all to meet him the next day making several promises to them, one being that Orlando will marry Rosalind. At this gathering Rosalind now appears as herself, Orlando is overjoyed, and all the other ‘couplings’ are sorted. It was most definitely a mammoth task undertaken by Tess, which she most undoubtedly played to perfection both as Rosalind and Ganymede. Celia, the daughter of Duke Frederick, is cousin and a dear friend to Rosalind and is determined to accompany her into exile assuming the role of her sister calling herself, Aliena. Rose Oliver was superb and so delightful as Celia showing quite a grittiness to her usually calm nature as she berates her father. Mostly though, her indomitable and enthusiastic spirit shines through and her caring for Rosalind knows no bounds. As Aliena, she does fall for Oliver, who is the elder brother to Orlando and sole inheritor of his father’s estate. Oliver was brilliantly played by Chris Gale. It was a very animated portrayal, both physically and facially none more so than when he encounters a snake and stamps and yells around the stage, it was so dramatically and theatrically delivered. His hatred for his brother was so well displayed but when charged with finding him in the Forest, Orlando saves him from a lion which has a profound effect on him changing him into a more loving person even to falling in love with a shepherdess, the disguised Celia. Rosalind and Celia were accompanied into the forest by Touchstone, a ‘fool’ in Duke Frederick’s court. Martin John Devaney, in his bizarre outfit, gave a super and most impressive performance as Touchstone bringing out the humour as well as the critical nature in the role sublimely. Simon Brister perfectly portrayed the explosive and merciless character of Duke Frederick who had seized the dukedom from his brother Duke Senior, and banished him to the Forest of Arden then later banishing his niece Rosalind from the court only to have his own daughter Celia disagree with him. He mounts a vengeful mission against his brother but after meeting a holy man on his way to the forest he turns his life around even returning the throne to his brother. The antithesis of his brother, Duke Senior now lives in exile in the Forest with loyal followers including Jacques and Amiens. Lewis Hancock excelled as Duke Senior. He was ideally suited to the role from his stature, his attire, to his exceedingly kindly nature which was so well executed. As Phoebe, a shepherdess, Rachel Callen did her level best at flirting with Ganymede whilst trying to avert the affection that Silvius has for her and Silvius was splendidly played by Luke Marsden. At one point Luke so frantically throws himself to the ground as he declares his love for her. Susan Devaney was spot-on as Audrey, a simpleminded goatherd. Her facial expressions and attempts at dancing were so simple and so amusing, just right for the part and the comic antics by Touchstone as he tried to woo her were so amusing. Belle, (I can only assume was the ‘brother’ to Orlando and Oliver) was well played by Sonja Reynolds. Excellent support came from Bob Hingston as Corin, from Samantha Bridie Devaney as Amiens and from Ian Lawrence as William. The flamboyantly dressed Courtiers were Kathy Padley, Pauline Revill, Anna Ruda and Mary Wilde. A priest marries the four couples, Rosalind and Orlando, Oliver and Celia, Phoebe and Sylvius and Touchstone and Audrey following which we had a ‘line dance’ by the whole cast ending with Rosalind coming forward to deliver the Epilogue, asking the audience to applaud the actors and wishing us a fond ‘Farewell’.

Good lighting, Bryn Moorhouse, appropriate props, Liz Mckenzie and George Nuttall and lovely costumes, paying homage to the 1980’s, Alicia Bloundele, added to make this a most entertaining production delivered by an extremely talented cast. Many congratulations to all the aforementioned, to Director Suzanne Alford, to Steve Newton for the Musical Arrangements and Composition, to Stage Manager Mac McKenzie and Choreographer Consultant Jo Petch. Also many thanks for the very warm welcome that I always receive, especially from the Front of House Manager, Liz Lawrence and her Team. 

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