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:

24 June 2010

As You Like It - 5*
The Tempest - 3*

Sam Mendes has brought his transatlantic collaboration back to the Old Vic for a double helping of Shakespeare. Mendes sees a connection between the two plays - both have usurping brothers at the heart of the drama - but it seems to me to be stretching the point to see a comparison between the two. The Tempest has a controlling force in Prospero, something notably lacking in As You Like It.

Of the two productions, As You Like It is by far the better, not least thanks to the excellent Juliet Rylance as Rosalind, smitten with love from the first and seemingly perpetually on the brink of revealing her deception as Ganymede. It’s a commanding performance, full of swagger, yet with a real feeling for the poetry. She overwhelms Christian Camargo’s Orlando.

There's also a genuinely funny Jacques from Stephen Dillane - rather than sucking melancholy from song, he finds h...

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Latest User Review

Elisabeth - 8 August 2010:

While As you like it sparkles not least to Juliet Rylance's and Stephen Dillane performances thanks to an overall brilliant cast The Tempest makes you question Prosperos motivation. Many of the brilliant cast feel underused in The Tempest. Again it is Rylance who is the only real driving force in the play. Carmago as android-like Ariel, Ed Bennett as Ferdinand and Alvin Epstein are doing a good job, but cannot make up for the strangely passive Prospero. Whatever acoustic problems there might have occured in the past, they have been no issue last night. 5 stars for As you like it and 3 stars for The Tempest are justified...

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