AS YOU LIKE IT: till 8 November
AS YOU LIKE IT: William Shakespeare
Swan, Stratford Upon Avon, Tickets, 0870 609 1110
Runs: 3h 15m, one interval, till 8 November
Review: Rod Dungate, 1 April 2003
It appears unruly, it's carefully orchestrated, it breathes and is full of delightI always feel AS YOU LIKE IT is rather like some ground cover rockery plants they spread all over the place in all directions but have lovely flowers. In the Swan's intimate surroundings director Gregory Thompson appears to have let the play do just that. He has allowed it to take its unruly way, allowed it to breathe, and, lo and behold, every flower blossoms for our considerable and continuous delight. Not that his production is sentimental far from it, it is as hard edged as I've seen the play.
The tone is set by Martin Hutson's (Orlando) first speeches a long silent opening and a headfirst dive into the deep end of passion. Hutson looks like any young man off the street: he makes a perfect bridge for us into the play. His passion and naivete sit well together and we ache for his vulnerability. Nina Sosanya (Rosalind) and he make perfect partners. This Rosalind is clearly more street wise than Orlando but not so much so that we can't understand their love for each other. Here is a mutual attraction and their set pieces in the Forest are a great pleasure genuine emotion and good humour in equal measures.
But the strength of this production lies not only with the Orlando/Rosalind partnership but also with the Rosalind/Celia one. There is so much talk in the play about the friendship between these two women and here (Sosanya with Naomi Frederick) it takes wing every time we see them together. It is subtle too the status of the two women shifts from Court to Forest.
John Killoran's Fool is more Inner City than Country or Court. Here is a bloke more put upon than putting. We enjoy his wickedness as much as we enjoy his easy wit. Killoran's robust performance makes the Fool immediate and human and he parcels the whole up in a lightening physicality. Set against this, Jaques is darkly played by David Fielder who releases a rich humour too. His parting shot is full of unhappy venom slicing through the atmosphere of rejoicing like a scalpel. Daniel Brocklebank and Natasha Gordon bring their bright youthfulness to the party and don't we just love 'em.
Much fun is had with the company playing a range of sheep, goats and trees. The effect is fascinating and strangely disturbing: the moments are carefully orchestrated and characters become complicit in other characters' journeys. I'm less certain about Colin Peters's set in the Court scenes: intrusive and clumsy. But then it comes into its own later. Andrea Cox's multi-layered soundscape adds much to this atmospheric production: music (lovely score by David Stoll) and sound merge gently in and out. And full marks to all who sing.
De Boys
Oliver: Aaron Neil
Jaques: Edmund Moriarty
Orlando: Martin Hutson
Adam: Tim Barlow
Dennis: Christopher Duncan
Court
Duke Frederick: Michael Hadley
Celia: Naomi Frederick
Rosalind: Nina Sosanya
Monsieur le Beau: Alistair Robins
Frederick's Fool: John Killoran
Charles: Bradley Freegard
Forest
Duke Senior: Michael Handley
Jaques: David Fielder
Amiens: James Staddon
First Lord: Branwell Donaghey
Forest Lords: Christopher Duncan, Bradley Freegard
Pastures
Corin: Michael G Jones
Silvius: Daniel Brocklebank
Phebe: Natasha Gordon
Audrey: Patricia Gannon
William: Bradley Freegard
Sir Oliver Martext: Walter Hall
Deities
Hymen: Amy Finegan
Direction :Gregory Thompson
Design: Colin Peters
Costumes: Hilary Lewis
Lighting: Judith Greenwood
Movement: Struan Leslie
Sound: Andrea Cox
Music Composed: David Still
Music Director: John Woolf
Fights: Alison de Burgh
Assistant Director: Tom Daley
Voice: Lyn Darnley, Andrew Wade
Dialect Coach: Chantal Hauser
2003-04-02 13:51:06