Theatre Review

Production: As You Like It

Playwright: William Shakespeare

Company: Stratford Shakespeare Festival Of Canada

Director: Des McAnuff

Principal Actors: Brent Carver, Cara Ricketts, Paul Nolan, Andrea Runge, Ben Carlson

Venue: Festival Theatre

Location: Stratford, Ontario, Canada

Run: June 7th to October 31st

Reviewed By: Kindah Mardam Bey

"All the world's a stage

And all the men and women merely players;

They have their exits and their entrances,

And one man in his time plays many parts."

With an excessive amount of trepidation I attended this year’s production at Stratford of As You Like It. Artistic director Des McAnuff at the helm requires Shakespeare to posses certain elements, in his opinion; some form of explosive gunshot(s), animal heads affixed on human bodies and costumes out of sequence with the time period. This formulaic response to Shakespeare’s most trusted works was exhausting last season, but this season, although all elements were provoking in presence, they seemed to take a step back to be overpowered by another more surprising element – an intriguing complete reinvention of As You Like It. And indeed it was very much as I liked it....

As You Like It is a pastoral play, simply meaning it tells a story of people in the country as opposed to a metropolis. Two brothers, both Dukes, change a French community once one usurps the other's power and banishes the “good Duke to the Arden forest. Celia, the “evil” Duke's daughter, has Rosalind, the “good” Duke's daughter, stay and keep her company, but when Rosalind is also to be thrown out by her Uncle, Celia follows her cousin into the forest. In an elaborate escape plan, Rosalind dresses as a boy and plays brother to Celia, and take along the tag-along comedic character Turnstone. Rosalind is in love with Orlando, the youngest boy of a deceased father who seeks to overcome the shadow his older and tyrannical brother has cast. The plot is very convoluted with much happening and an absolute plethora of characters, but As You Like It eventually becomes, as the play progresses, a very pleasant theatrical production to unfold.

McAnuff seemed to find an ideal tone in surrealism for this production – the sets were dressed by Salvador Dali’s mind with unique globes, clocks, distinct imagery, and vibrant colour pairings. The set was initially dressed in fiery red silk sheets reminiscent of Dante’s Inferno that would eventually become sucked into the middle of the stage and disappear, only to make way for a lush tapestry of big and beautiful butterflies mapping the stage floor once the characters entered the forest scenes. An architectural tree seemed to be the only additionally prominent set piece; it was glass encased and would sometimes sprout white flowers and other times lay barren. I am a big believer in keeping the stage as plain as possible and making a cast showcase their talents, but in such a well-orchestrated instance as this, the stage worked very effectively to portray the characters and the story.

Delightful performances were aplenty with a playful Cara Ricketts cast as Celia, a highly understated Mike Shara as Oliver (who was fantastic in The Importance of Being Ernest last season), Tom Rooney as both Dukes, Ian Lake was a very pleasing insipid Silvius, the outstanding Lucy Peacock, and a host of other performances. Ben Carlson actually brought some wit to the stage, which was most impressive, as was our sweet Rosalind, played by Andrea Runge. Paul Nolan as Orlando was perhaps the weakest link to this production; Nolan is such a great performer and did a fantastic job in West Side Story last year that it was disheartening to see he had not found the core of Orlando for this production.

Perhaps big applause should be saved for Brent Carver who did an astounding job of playing Jaques with a “melancholy” black suit, bowler hat and propensity to carry green apples about – if you picked up on the reference to “Son of Man” by surrealist painter Rene Magritte, then the play had a uniquely ironic twist. Carver was poetic as Jaques and delightful to see him perform the famous “All the world’s a stage...” speech.

Two intermissions were highly unnecessary, especially with no set changes and little costume changes. The song “I Feel It All” performed by Feist was pleasant, uplifting and an ideal nod to Canadian talent as the performance concluded, similar to a soundtrack starting the credits of a film. Nice touch.

In what can only be described as a delightful surprise, As You Like It at Stratford is a playful and very surreal experience.