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:

9 June 2009

Shakespeare’s delightful rural comedy is punctuated by an array of coincidences and plot contrivances that modern audiences often find risible. It’s easy enough to explain them away by referring to the magical properties of the Forest of Arden but Thea Sharrock, in her Globe directing debut, delivers a production of such exuberance that these are forgotten, while adding a few twists of her own.

For example, by making Orlando's wound an imaginary one – devised as a trick to bring Ganymede to him - his remarkable recovery can be more easily explained. Sharrock even produces an explanation as to why Oliver is so quick to recant his past life when she shows him being tortured by Brendan Hughes’ particularly brutal Duke Frederick.

Sharrock has unearthed a fine Rosalind in Naomi Frederick. Looking rather more at ease in male disguise than in her female garb, she relishes her role as Ganymede, Orlando’s muse. What&#...

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Latest User Review

David Baxter - 16 July 2009:

Any production of As You Like It has to cope with a story which is frequently quite daft, particularly the second half with a lioness in a French forest, contrived character conversions and multiple marriages. Thea Sharrock's production succeeds very well by keeping things light and at a cracking pace, helped by a terrific cast with no weaker supporting performances, which is not always the case at the Globe. Naomi Frederick as Rosalind does not have a natural flair for comedy but makes a very impressive and believable Gannymede and she is nicely balanced by Laura Rogers who makes Celia much sparkier and less of a devoted but dull follower. Tim McMullan uses his extraordinary voice to great effect as a superb Jaques and Dominic Rowan milks the groundlings to the limit but even his phsical comedy cannot disguise the fact that Touchstone is painfully unfunny. Perhaps not quite as good as last year's Merry Wives of Windsor but still an excellent example of why the Globe can be such an exhilerating experience....

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