Midway through a national tour, Bell Shakespeare’s production of As You Like It directed by John Bell is crisp, funny, and impressive in almost all elements.
However,
the problem I have with Bell Shakespeare productions is that they lack
a defined time and place. Whilst this has the benefit of allowing
audiences to create their own world, I find that it creates issues with
sets, costumes and context.The company’s insistence in
creating contemporary versions of Shakespeare often ensures a mish mash
of set and costume. For those struggling with the text, it adds further
confusion when unable to tie the play to an era.
Whilst As You Like It
is one of the freer plays in terms of setting, the set and costumes in
this production were at complete odds with each other. Both designed by
the late Jennie Tate, the Forest of Arden was represented by
huge hazy white hangings and a cyclorama with palm trees and parrots
sketched on it like a large crayon drawing. This tropical setting would
have been suitable if the cast had not been wearing winter clothes and
acting like they were cold.
The
opening set (the palace) was bland and meaningless, looking more like a
low budget production than a full-scale national show.For me, it was a reminder of the contrast between my experience with the Royal Shakespeare Company
with huge, detailed sets - created with huge detailed budgets, and the
tight, shoestring budgets so many of our Australian companies work with.
The costumes were varied and like most As You Like It
productions, had a colour scheme to differentiate between warring
factions. Once again though, I struggled with the lack of direction and
era. Last night for example, mid way through a scene I looked at
Celia’s shoes and thought, ‘oh, I have those shoes in black’.It was a jolt back into reality that I found annoying and disturbing.
For
all these faults however, the depth and understanding by the cast of
the plays’ text and themes was faultless. They brought to life scenes
that too often drag and injected new and different meanings into
well-known moments.
Saskia Smith as Rosalind(the largest female role in Shakespeare) was clear, crisp and arguably the best Rosalind I have seen.Her long wandering monologues were delivered with grace and style.Together with Lexi Freiman as cousin Celia, she exuded the girly nature of a young woman that is so often lacking in productions of the play.
Stephen Phillips ably portrayed the love struck Orlando but was outshone by Smith in the wooing scenes.Damien Ryan played Jaques with his famous ‘all the world’s a stage’ speech, with an aching melancholy.There was a particularly touching scene between Jaques and Rosalind (dressed as Ganymede) that brought new depth to the character.
Various members of the cast used guitar, drums and electronic piano to perform the musical numbers composed by Basil Hogios. The synthesized effect of the piano jarred with me, particularly whilst in the Forest, but the cast sung well.The dance sequences were fun, performed with skill and had the audience clapping along.
Overall, despite my misgivings about the set, this is one of the better As You Like It productions I have seen.The clarity of the text was impeccable, and the cast should be commended on their bubbly, intelligent performance.
Bell Shakespeare presents As You Like It by William Shakespeare
Anne, it's many weeks since I saw this production here in Hobart, so my memory of some details is a bit hazy, but there are a few things in your review that I felt quite differently about.
“As You Like It” has been a target for plenty of heavy-handed interpretations, most recently environmental or gender-based.
I found this production refreshingly unburdened by forced interpretation. Yes, the settings and costumes are indeterminate, but I actaully saw this as a strength. This is not a concrete world, but a whimsical one, and a beautiful one at that. For me the strength of the production was its being so unforced. It felt like John Bell had allowed the play to breath freely, rather than forcing it into the straight jacket of "interpretation" (which so often anyway only means dressing the old play in "unusual" shiny new clothes.)
This was reflected even in the pre-show music. When I walked into the Theatre, some sort of Hawaiian music was playing. Some minutes later, it sounded vaguely Jewish.
I enjoyed this production a lot - with two reservations. I thought there were one or two pieces of woeful casting. (See, you have an on-going probelm with Bell Shakespeare indeterminate settings. I have an on-going problem with the fact that in almost every Bell production there seems to be one or two just plain lousy actors).
And I really disliked the big dance number mid-way through the second half. A multiplicity of styles, lots of flashy coloured lights, and swirling star gobbos ... frankly I thought it was just plain ugly. And perhaps I am being completely unfair to the director and company, but I felt like this sequence had only been inserted because the show is touring here, there and everywhere. To me it said, "right, we've been giving them solid Shakespeare for quite some time now. They'll be getting bored. Better spark things up with a loud flashy dance number". I felt patronised.
These criticisms aside, I found the production very beautiful, illuminating, and humane.
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