As You Like It

Synopsis

Written around 1600 and set in two contrasting communities; city and forest. Rosalind and Celia have been banished from Court. In fear of their lives, they disguise themselves and seek sanctuary in the Forest of Arden. Amongst the magical and ancient boughs, Rosalind discovers her exiled father, uncovers various truths about herself and others...and falls helplessly in love. But in this earthly paradise nothing is quite what it seems: men do not always act like men, and women can be anything at all...Uplifting, awe-inspiring and immense fun, Shakespeare's wondrous comedy is a joyous celebration of the liberating power of love and the redeeming spirit of nature.

Our Review:

22 September 2010

An industrial-looking behemoth of corrugated steel dominates the Quarry Theatre. When this maroon mass rises to reveal real tree-trunks stretching up to meet a gauze canopy adorned with projections of lush greenery, we see exactly how ingrained the central juxtaposition between court and country is to Ian Brown’s production of As You Like It.

Indeed, it is the starkness of this contrast that sometimes hampers the play: a few lacklustre fight sequences and some slightly unconvincing hand-wringing from Nathan Wright's Orlando means the play is a slow-starter. But it seems that even the actors are affected by the change in atmosphere, as the company becomes more exuberant and engaging once the action has moved to the natural paradise of the Forest of Arden.

Wright is much more at home in the role of infatuated lover than frustrated, testosterone-fuelled youth. Vanessa Kirby's Rosalind is more nuanced than most; she begins halting and hesitant in her danger...

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