AS YOU LIKE IT (Shake-Scene Theatre Company/Cream Faced Loons)*****

 

By Emma

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NnxD1zy6g88 

Available until: Unknown

This production of As You Like It was the first ever collaboration between Shake-Scene Theatre Company and the Cream Faced Loons. I’ve watched productions from both of them and really enjoyed them. I’ve seen quite a few Shake-Scene productions and I reviewed their The Merry Wives of Windsor which I loved. But they’re equally good at tragedy, their Macbeth was actually quite emotional and The Winter’s Tale is a beautiful story with a bit of everything and Shake-Scene’s production was lovely.

The Cream Faced Loons have done some really fun performances of The Comedy of Errors and The Tempest but even though they are obviously brilliant at comedy, they did a modern version of King Lear set in the pandemic which was so interesting. It isn’t as sad as the original King Lear but it covers a really serious and important subject.

It’s really lovely to see the two companies working together and doing something which would probably never have happened offline.

As Abey Bradbury who is in charge of the Loons says, you can guess who the Loons are from their Manchester accents (which sound really lovely with Shakespeare’s words) but they work together so well. I don’t think they even really rehearse apart from things like the wrestling but the characters build up some great connections.

One thing which I have seen a lot of online is women playing male characters in Shakespeare. I’m used to that now, it doesn’t seem weird at all and that does happen in As You Like It. Oliver is played by a woman and he’s a man and that’s fine. But one thing which I haven’t seen so much of is characters actually changing sex. Duke Senior is a woman. Le Beau is Madame Le Beau. Adam is Ada, which I actually thought was a typo when I saw the cast list and was quite proud I’d remembered Adam but it wasn’t long before it all made sense! That all worked really well too. They were just women and it didn’t seem odd. Why shouldn’t women be dukes (she’s a duke rather than a duchess), courtiers, servants to a man or even a wrestler?

It is slightly surprising one that Charles the wrestler is now Jeanne the wrestler. Suzanne Taylor is brilliant in this role and quite scary but I did feel a bit uncomfortable with Orlando winning the fight, she is a trained wrestler but he’s a man. But that was really interesting because it made me look at Orlando in a different way. It also made Rosalind dressing up as Ganymede look slightly different because she’s got a bigger job on her hands to prove she’s ready to take him on as a husband and he has to work extra hard to prove he deserves her.

So this is a very different As You Like It in lots of ways but it still has all the humour and romance it needs to be a really fun play. The characters are all really well acted and I really love the music. Suzanne Taylor also plays Amiyens and she has such a beautiful voice, a sort of early music voice that sounds just right for Shakespeare. It’s a really beautiful and gentle characterisation too so a big contrast with Jeanne! Amy Roberts plays Beumond and she has a folky sort of voice which is also really lovely.

Eleanor Shannon is a brilliant Rosalind. She’s so passionate and feminine and she sort of sparkles. She can act boyish as Ganymede but it’s really interesting the way Rosalind has trouble keeping up the act sometimes in emotional moments, there’s already the bit where she faints but Eleanor shows that Rosalind always finds it difficult because she cares so much and that makes her so relatable.

I wasn’t sure about Orlando after what happens with Jeanne but Matt Fordy is a really adorable Orlando. He does have confidence but when he meets Rosalind he goes really awkward and it’s so sweet. It’s lovely watching him grow as a character into someone who deserves Rosalind. The same happens with Oliver, who is played by Amy Roberts. To start with Oliver is great to watch but quite cruel but then he meets Celia and he totally changes. Laura Betts is great as Celia, she’s very funny and she does some great reactions and she’s a really good contrast with Rosalind.

The Dukes are both really good. Antonia Whitehead is really lovely and friendly as the female Duke Senior. It’s easy to imagine how her brother managed to take over and banish her because she is so easygoing but at the same time there’s a feeling that she’s really intelligent and very good at being a duke and that she’ll go back when Frederick has found out it’s not so much fun being in charge after all. Fergus Rattigan plays Duke Frederick and he is mean but he is so great to watch.

Abey Bradbury is hilarious as Le Beau and Audrey. Audrey’s scenes with Tamara Ritthaler’s Touchstone are so much fun. Aryn Mello Pryor is really moving as Silvius and I’m sure Phebe will learn to love him if she actually gets to know him properly. Charlotte Gallagher makes Phebe really sweet, more silly than cruel. Linda Mathis is very funny as Jacques and I love how elegant he is, I wasn’t expecting that! John Hatziemmanuel characterises Corin really beautifully and Hadesa Sonne makes Adam work perfectly as Ada.

This production works so well. It’s so amazing how Lizzie Conrad-Hughes and her team put all this together every month (I think it’s every month). Shake-Scene deserve more recognition and so do the Cream Faced Loons.