As You Like It: Review

[pullquote style=”left” quote=”dark”] O wonderful, wonderful, and most wonderful wonderful! [/pullquote]

So exclaims Celia in Shakespeare’s joyous romantic comedy As You Like It. This latest offering from the RSC of deceit at court and lover’s enchantment in the heart of the mystical Forest of Arden is a gracious gesture to long, warm summer’s nights where excitement abounds and stories blossom. Maria Aberg has directed this frequently performed play, where the audience watches with preconceived expectations, anticipating those famed moments and monologues, and has taken it beyond the spectator’s imagination, transporting them into a world of summer festivals and light-hearted merriment.

In taking on one of the most famous female parts in Shakespeare, Pippa Nixon carries off the role of Rosalind with much grace, along with great mischief and vitality, which she dons playacting as Ganymede. Aberg has called her an “extraordinary actress” and with her slim, boyish physique she is incredibly convincing throughout her performance, while acting well against Joanna Horton’s stereotypically hilarious blonde, Celia.

With the accompaniment of Laura Marling’s music, sung and performed by the cast members, Aberg’s production comes into a light of its own, whisking its audience away to scenes reminiscent of music festivals and youthful summers with friends. Although it appears to be smothered in an alternative, hipster, jumper-wearing, guitar-playing, fairy-lit, folksy atmosphere, which to some audience members may seem a tad too twee, I felt that it contributed to the play’s primary strengths. It cemented the thrill of mischievousness in the forest, together with a pensive worldliness, which was firmly characterised in Oliver Ryan’s Jaques – a melancholic forest lord, who laments on the passing of time and who revels in an almost joyous discontent of the world. There were moments when Ryan threatened to slip from his role into a crazed figure, seemingly obsessive and straying close to the absurd. Nonetheless, he never lost my sympathies with his character, whose monologues and long, lamenting sighs I ironically awaited with anticipation and watched in delight.

Rosie Hilal played up to the role of Audrey, infatuated with the playacting Ganymede, and reluctant to accept William’s admiration for her. Audrey and William’s false starting and one-sided relationship was paralleled with the mutually besotted couple of bohemian, and free spirited Phoebe (Natalie Klamar) and the lethargically hilarious Touchstone played by Nicolas Tennant, who triumphed throughout with his easy wit. Alex Waldmann shone as a quietly confident and dark Orlando, clad in a preppy blazer-hoody combination, making him all the more likable to the audience, who rejoiced in the unveiling of the outrageous fortunes of lovers’ luck and expedient miracles at the end of the play. It was impossible not to leave the theatre with a sense of summery hedonism, which lifted my mid-exam mood and had the audience cheering and bobbing along in their seats at the end.

The soft, beautiful music of Laura Marling reinforced the ease of summer, the warmth of emotions and the vivacity exalted from such a strong company of actors. A truly uplifting piece of theatre which succeeds enormously in creating summer vibes in the midst of the unreliable weather.

As You Like It is playing at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre until 28 September 2013. Tickets available here. Join the RSC Key for free and obtain £5 tickets for performances by the RSC.