Sunday, June 9, 2013

As You Like It Review

As You Like It
Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon

This fantastic production shows the talent behind some of the RSC's rising stars as well as, to some extent, the director. Of course this review cannot examine this production without discussing the leads. Having played a disappointing Ophelia, Poppa Nixon has come up trumps as Rosalind, and is just as good as Katy Stephens. Strong willed and energetic, she shows a wonderful relationship with Joanna Horton's childlike and playful Celia. Her physicality and spriteliness makes for a convincing transformation into a boyish Ganymede. It is easy to relate to Alex Waldmann's Orlando. Brushing off leaves at the start and sporting a woolly hat, he comes over as good natured, honest, and passionate. The wooing scenes between him and Pippa's Ganymede are endearing to watch.

Playing Duke Frederick is understudy, Robin Soans, who did well to present a maniacal tyrant. Luke Norris is a sly yet incapable Oliver, whilst Mark Holgate is quite the brute as Charles the wrestler. Playing Adam is David Fielder, who makes for a a touchingly pitiful but faithful servant to Orlando. Cliff Burnett is a commanding but charming Duke Senior. Natalie Klamar is a suprisingly wild and crazed Phoebe. As for the clowns, Nicolas Tennant's Touchstone is enjoyable to watch as he laughs at his own misfortune for being dragged along with Rosalind and Celia into the Forest of Arden. Oliver Ryan's is overshadowed by to Forbes Masson, but his Jacques is quite an oddball. He rarely stays still and his disdainful "All the world's a stage" is charming to watch.

If there is a flaw with this production then it is the pacing. 3 hours and 10 minutes is quite long for a comedy and the production has a lot of filler that should be cut out. The director, Maria Aberg, has incorporated a number of dance sequences that are unnecessary. There is a weird one during the court scenes to show how uniform and rigid it is under Duke Frederick, which can be distracting when characters are speaking. A clever moment is when Celia and the onstage band try to perform the rubbish poems that Orlando writes, but that too outstays its welcome. Touchstone is also given moments of ad-libbing that not only detracts from the text but is stretched out unnecessarily long. The start of the second act shows him bored out of his mind whilst shepherding with Corin, and later on he verges on stand-up comedy by asking members of the audience whether they are married.

The set at first consists of an industrial setting to represent Frederick's oppressive court, with metal girders standing around the stage. Using lighting however the girders beautifully become the trees of the Forest of Arden, whilst moving on a revolving stage, which makes the scenes feel fluent. The first transformation into the forest for one sent goosebumps down me. Maria Aberg has set this play within a Glastonbury festival type setting and the banished court of Duke Senior is seen in assorted costumes whilst littering the stage with all kinds of objects.

The other highlight of the production is the energetic folk music that is played during the forest scenes. Indeed having seen Rosalind and Alex Waldmann finally reunited the final music and dance sequence left me smiling. Maria Aberg's production may not be perfect, but the performances from Pippa Nixon and Alex Waldmann combined with the production values makes As You Like It a worthwhile production. I recommend this at a low Top Price.

No comments:

Post a Comment