AS YOU LIKE IT (Worldwide Shakespeare)*****

 

By Megan

Link: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/william-shakespeares-as-you-like-it-recording-tickets-163768011531

Available until: 26^th July 2021

The first production I ever reviewed was a production of As You Like It and that was nearly a whole year ago! I hope I’m better at reviewing than I was then. I write a lot more on my own now. I was only nine when I wrote my first review and I will be eleven in seven weeks.

Worldwide Shakespeare’s production of As You Like It was originally livestreamed just once but now it has been made available for another week. It is not free but it is Pay What You Can and whatever you pay, it will be worth it because it is a great production.

As You Like It is categorised as one of Shakespeare’s comedies and unlike lots of the plays which are called comedies, this one really is very funny. But it isn’t just a comedy. It is also a love story (for lots of different characters and they all have different storylines) and a family drama about two sets of brothers who don’t get on but it isn’t really a cosy comedy because there are a few fight scenes too.

There are a lot of different things to think about in As You Like It but director Fergus Rattigan seems to have wanted to make his production bring out all the different genres and he has done this really brilliantly. The production is really hilarious but it also has lots of genuine emotion and dramatic moments in it so you really get involved in all the different storylines and want things to work out for everyone.

One character I am always interested in is Jaques de Boys. He is Oliver and Orlando’s brother (and he’s completely different from the other character called Jaques). He arrives at the end with some important news and that’s all he does. I saw a production recently where Le Beau read this part and it worked. In this production, Oliver sayd his brother’s lines. I think this works really well too. It feels a bit strange for another brother to appear suddenly in a play where brotherly relationships are such an important theme but he is in the play for a reason – one of the sources for As You Like It is Rosalynde by Thomas Lodge (which might also be the reason Orlando calls Rosalind by her real name and Rosalynde in his poems) and that has three brothers in it and the second brother does arrive with big news at the end (though he actually has very different news at the end of Rosalynde). So I can see why Jaques de Boys is in the play but maybe it kind of makes more sense dramatically for a character we know to give the important news. It is always interesting to see what the director does with this character and I really like what happens in this production.

Zoom theatre has always been good and I think it is a really good thing that theatre companies took it slowly and kept adding new things all the time. If they had been really ambitious and tried to do everything from the start, it might not have worked so well. But after nearly eighteen months of Zoom theatre, the companies have learned so much and perfected so many new skills. Lots of the people involved in this production of As You Like It have performed with really great companies like The Show Must Go Online and Shake-Scene Shakespeare Company and the result is this really brilliant production. I hope Worldwide Shakespeare will do lots more online productions because this one is of such a high standard technically and artistically. There are subtitles too and I think that is a really good thing but I think it’s really expensive so I see it like a bonus, not something that has to be there.

The cast is really good. Rachael Bellis is an intelligent and beguiling Rosalind who kind of grows up during the play and learns just how strong and clever she is. I really like how playful she is as Ganymede too and she has great chemistry with her Orlando, Andrew Mockler, who is sweet, romantic and lovesick in a very endearing way. He also says Shakespeare’s words beautifully and he and Ms Bellis have composed some really beautiful music for the production.

An interesting choice was for Duke Senior and Duke Frederick to be played by the same actor, Edmund Dehn. I was surprised when I saw the cast list and I thought I might get very confused but I really was worrying about nothing (and if you are ever confused watching it, the actors all have their character names on their Zoom screens). Mr Dehn makes the two Dukes look and sound completely different and their personalities are so strong, they are really obviously different people. Duke Frederick is quite harsh and commanding and Duke Senior is much gentler and kinder. It’s easy to imagine how Duke Frederick got the better of him but I would definitely prefer Duke Senior to be in charge because he is lovely.

Yaiza Friere-Bernat is really sweet and funny as Celia. Van Koo is a very likeable and funny Oliver. She brings their own interpretation to the role which really works well and it is especially fun to see a female/non-binary (pronouns she/they) actor in a male role while Rosalind is pretending to be a man. John Spilsbury is an amusing Jaques who really makes the most of all his famous lines. Eleanor Wilkinson is a brilliant, hilarious and adorable Phebe and just one of the great things about Zoom is that you can see every single one of her reactions. They’re exaggerated enough to be funny but they’re still very real. I don’t think Phebe finds the play as funny as the rest of us do. Ms Wilkinson is also great as Adam and Dennis.

Worldwide Shakespeare have put together a really brilliant production and even if you have seen lots of versions of this play like I have (I think this is my seventh), it is definitely worth watching this one. As You Like It has characters that can be played in different ways so the same characters and scenes can have a very different feel to them and every director brings something new to the play. There is a lot to enjoy in this production and I am looking forward to Worldwide Shakespeare’s next play.