'All the world's a stage......' but how on earth director, Robert Shaw managed to breathe so much life, fun and frolic into 'AS YOU LIKE IT' is nothing short of genius. To set what is one of the Bard's manic gender-bending, usually overlong, tediously acted plays and to get his large cast to perform in such a tiny performing space as the Jermyn Street Theatre was sheer inspiration and the vitality onstage leaves one gasping for breath. Gone is the Elizabethan/Jacobean era - we are in the 1920s in a P.G. Wodehouse world full of flappers, handsome heroes, cads and bounders and such-like!
With specially composed music and brilliant choreography the cast 'Charleston' us through the Forest of Arden and lay before us a really 'zippy' alternative production of the play which had the audiences hooting with laughter instead of a vague giggle now and then (as is usually the case).
The text of 'AS YOU LIKE IT' is 'riddled' with Shakespearean songs (I guess it must have been written during his 'Lloyd Webber' period!) - which are usually sung in their entirety to the usual Elizabethan-esque music. Not in this show! We are 'stepping out' with the Charleston, bunny hug, conga song and dance numbers which really bring the play to life. Brilliantly original!
To single out any of the cast members seems churlish since every single one of them played their roles perfectly (some doubling-up) - and provided a perfect example of what ensemble acting is all about. However, there were particularly fine performances from JESSICA WATSON (Rosalind) and HARI DHILLON (Orlando) - their phrasing of the text was so perfect and command of their roles so realistically portrayed that we really couldn't have cared less whether Rosalind was a man or a woman!
A marvellously 'Bertie Woosterish' performance from CHARLES HART (as Touchstone) and the only Phebe (LORRAINE BRUCE) I have ever heard with a broad Brooklyn accent! - they were hilarious!
However the real 'star' of the evening (with deference to Mr. Shakespeare for providing the words!) was ROBERT SHAW. To have conceived the idea, let alone write such wonderfully toe-tapping numbers and incidental music and to have directed with such panache, verve and vigour is truly magnificent.
Okay so the Royal Shakespeare Company have deserted the Barbican until November. So what? With wonderful companies like Inside Intelligence performing such unique versions of Shakespeare, and delighting audiences with its winsome wittiness, I think the London Theatregoer can manage to struggle along without the RSC for a while.
I can heartily recommend this production of 'AS YOU LIKE IT'- which plays at the delightfully cozy Jermyn Street Theatre before going on to become part of the Greenwich Festival in mid-June.
TRY TO CATCH THIS JEWEL !!
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