[NEohioPAL] Review: As You Like It, Stratford Festival

[Lawrence Seman]

Review:
As You Like It
Stratford Festival
Larry Seman
 
Shakespeare's romantic comedy takes place in the forest of Arden which is not quite the English one, nor is it quite a French one either even though we have characters with names like; Amiens, Le Beau, and Jaques de Boys.There is also the odd lion roaming the woods, and a Greek god that presides over the marriages that end the play. There's no map of this location, but then there really shouldn't be as time and place take a back seat to the goings on of the human heart. However if by chance you arrive in this forest do yourself a favor and quickly give up on any geographic nicety while you drink in Stratford's beautiful and evocative production.
 
As the story begins, Orlando, (Paul Nolan) the wronged youngest son of one late Sir Rowland de Boys complains to the family servant, Adam, (Brian Tree) that his eldest brother, Oliver, (Mike Shara) is denying him the opportunity to make his way in the world, and when the brothers meet a violent quarrel ensues. Another conflict is in the works as the top political dog Duke Senior (Tom Rooney) is overthrown by a bigger dog, his own brother Duke Frederick,(Tom Rooney, yup one and the same) and now he lives the outdoor life in the Forest of Arden with his court which includes the melancholy philosopher Jacques, (Brent Carver). In the middle of all this ill will Duke Senior's daughter, Rosalind, (Andrea Runge) falls in love with Orlando but the two nascent love birds are banished to the forest along with Ceilia (Cara Ricketts), Duke Frederick's daughter, and the court fool Touchstone, (Ben Carlson). Amid all this back stabbing politics and flowing hormonal
 urging the fun gets into high gear as the sophisticated city types meet up with the matter of fact rustic country bumpkins and that clash is as enjoyable as it sounds.
 
Director, Des McAnuff and Designer, Debra Hanson have put together an admixture of Dali-sque beauty with a Jazz Age accompaniment and the result suits the warring politicos as much as the frenzy of the new lovers to a tee. This is a forest that wears its heart on its sleeve, nothing emotional is abashed but all hands are front and center in its presentation. Anger as well as yearning enter over the same threshold and the acting company is as free as a wild thing to express it.
 
Andrea Rung as Rosalind is gob smacked when she sees her man Orlando, the virile Paul Nolan triumph in a wrestling match staged with the reality of the World Wrestling lads, (Fight Captain Xuan Fraser did an excellent job with this scene.) She's not about to fall at his feet however and disguised as a man (she's just to gorgeous to make that work and the Director wisely gives up on it in lieu of a sexy pair of trousers) the remarkable Ganymede she, or he, puts Mr. Nolan thru a distressing wringer of approach and avoid exercises. 
 
A far less delicate pairing happens in the enchanted forest between the court fool Touchstone, given a superlative rendition by Ben Carlson and a hilarious cameo by Lucy Peacock as the goatherd Audrey. Carlson is absolutely amazing as he is lost in his own perception of the world around him spouting an ineffectual logic that only he can appreciate; while Peacock is oblivious to anything that is remotely mannered or even civilized. 
 
Aside from all the goofy romance Shakespeare balances the ying and yang of country and court life with the reality of violence and loss. McAuff presents it matter of factly and even shocks us with  a quick trigger on a pistol but he doesn't dwell on it, we know it's there but it's more of a dark cloud that passes over the sylvan scene than an actual change in the landscape, something to process as part of life not an omen that precedes despair. It is perhaps the source of Jaques' melancholy which he reveals in the legendary "Seven Ages of Man" speech: it's all fate so what's to enjoy? Carver puts a personal touch on this one internalizing his advocacy but recruiting no new adherents to his sceptical sophistry.
 
At the end of all the heart throbbing the trail leads to the altar and the better angels cure the political strife, it is as we hope it would be, and as the Stratford Festival presents it: As We Would Like It.
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
Larry


      
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