As we liked it

So I have just returned from WUDS’s As You Like It and I find myself (oddly, given the encroaching exams), utterly carefree. It may be the bottle of Magners I assured myself would help with revision later, it may be this glorious sunshine, or it may well be the light hearted infectious, humorous spirit in which this play has been put on.
For any sceptics out there who think that Shakespeare is all difficult dialogue and dreary drama, As You Like It will make you rethink why you found Shakespeare so superbly banal.

For a start, this play is about love, not dull tragedies or histories – but simply the joyful aspects of love. It is jocose and, watching in the dappled sunlight, you can’t help but smile and let the unfolding comedy touch you.

That is not to say there the play is lacking in profound ponderings on passion and love for those amateur romantics out there, but just that this play rewards you merely for being there. You do not need to be a literature student and read into every other line, you can happily do nothing but laugh at some of the more comic relationships that develop over the course of the play; and certainly that is why I would recommend this play.

Plot wise, and I will try not to give too much away, we are taken to the forest of Arden. The Duke has just been usurped by his younger brother and has fled. His daughter, Rosalind, remains and, after falling in love with a young man called Orlando, Rosalind is banished by her uncle and Orlando is forced to leave by his treacherous elder brother. For safety, Rosalind travels as a young man. The play considers and redirects gender conventions comically, almost riotously, as you can tell from my attempt to explain the plot. The two young ‘men’ – Rosalind, disguised as Ganymede, and Orlando – become friends and the disguised Rosalind takes the opportunity to test Orlando’s love for her, teaching him how to love her correctly.

Most brilliant of all, the principal characters are surrounded by a wealth of different figures, the majority of whom fall in love with one another by the end of the play, lightening the tale. My personal favourite is Touchstone, the ‘fool’ of the play who takes nothing seriously until he falls madly, if not lastingly in love. A character modernised by WUDS’ interpretation, which had him brilliantly rapping parts of his love song, Touchstone’s devout approach to making a joke out of every situation is almost enough to steal the show from Rosalind and Orlando!

The play ends beautifully by reflecting that we are complicit in the falsehood upon which all theatre rests, even as we believe that the world of As You Like It is real, such are Shakespeare’s characters and their idiosyncrasies, he reminds us that we know it is just a play. Sitting watching, we are left in Orlando’s position, educated and charmed by Rosalind – forgetful at times that we are watching a play, in danger of being a little bit too comfortable with convention, with how we like it.

For me, the best part of the recent WUDS’ performance of As You Like It was the ardour it elicited, as the feel of a village fête was passed on by performers and setting. I thought maybe I was just a little too sensitive to bunting, picnics and the outdoors, but the general ambience of happiness, the smiles upon the faces of the audience, the fact that actors, director and musicians were all onstage and present to some degree (instead of your usual mysterious and faceless ghosts hidden away by curtains and lighting) all made for a relaxed, informal, neighbourly rendition of a warm, affectionate and friendly play.