As You Like It
Soho Place Theatre, London, until January 23
As with some of the pyramids of ancient Egypt, I have no doubt there are secret compartments in Shakespeare’s writing that we still have to unlock. A great production of one of his plays – and I would say Josie Rourke’s production of As You Like It is a great one – sets you thinking about such things.
This is the one that features the “seven ages of man” speech, but it’s also the one the scholars can’t agree about. Is it one of the greats or an also-ran? The Forest of Arden confuses them – they are not sure where it is supposed to be located – but the suggestion here is that it is a state of mind. Rourke has a piano centre stage and Michael Bruce’s playing matches the changing moods of the piece.
This play deals with so many intangible things, such as love and loss and loneliness, that inevitably the writing is fluid and subject to interpretation. This makes it more fun for Rourke to direct and her actors perform, of course.
There are some nice touches here – Celia (Rose Ayling-Ellis) speaks to her
vanquished cousin Rosalind (Leah Harvey) through sign language, which
brings their exchanges and thoughts visibly alive – and it neatly complements Rosalind’s sexually charged relationship with Orlando (Alfred Enoch) where the looks they exchange and the body language do the talking.
It is an exceptionally strong ensemble, but June Watson – so memorable as the old retainer in A Doll’s House, Part 2 at the Donmar earlier this year – perhaps shuffles off with the acting honours as the ageing Adam talking about the joys to be had in “a lusty winter”.
This new theatre’s stage – with the audience sitting on all four sides of it –
makes a conventional set a challenging proposition, but Robert Jones’s
minimalist design neatly gets around it and makes Arden feel a place of
limitless borders and possibilities. This is a spirited, fun, sexy As You Like
It. It will convert any punters who may not traditionally have liked this one
very much.
