.:Review:. As You Like It

The renowned Bell Shakespeare Company has performed yet another interesting and intriguing show of As You Like It. The artistic director of Bell Shakespeare Company and well-known actor, John Bell, has yet again created an adaptation of the play which is both captivating and stimulating. Bell has made it his goal to convey Shakespeare’s work as relevant and accessible for the audience to grasp a full understanding of what both he wanted to portray as an artistic director whilst still holding on t

Stephen Phillips as Orlando and Saksia Smith as Rosalind

o fundamental concepts and elements of Shakespeare’s depiction.

As You Like It was written by William Shakespeare, the infamous English poet and playwright. It is well known throughout a diverse range of cultures. It was believed to be written late in 1599 or early 1600. Shakespeare had a major influence on theatre and literature. He widened the dramatic potential of genre, plot, characterization and language. Quotes from many of his works are still very popular throughout the world. Therefore it was interesting to watch Bell’s representation of this play as I was keen to understand what elements and form he would give and take towards his own adaptation of the play.

The portrayal of the characters in As You Like It were similar however somewhat different to those seen in the original text.

Let us begin with the fair, sweet heroine; Rosalind who was played by Saksia Smith. She plays the role of daughter to a Duke and cousin to Celia, whom is also her best friend. Throughout her performance she conveys herself in almost a ‘bubbly’ manner; jumping from place to place and always portraying herself as a character who is full of youth. An example of this can be viewed when Celia and her discuss her recent infatuation with Orlando. They both convey themselves as young and overexcited teenagers gossiping about a boy. I particularly enjoyed the scene where Rosalind first met Orlando, her one and only love. She portrayed herself as a typical teenager in love-lots of childish laughter and staring in awe at her beloved Orlando.

Saksia Smith, as in the original play of As You Like It, also plays the role of Ganymede. This is a result of her freedom from her anguish at her father’s banishment and her tormenting life with Duke Frederick. Ganymede helps Orlando overcome his love for Rosalind by fooling him about her identity. I was particular interested in why Smith appeared more comfortable in her role as Ganymede than her role as Rosalind. Perhaps she was focusing on trying to convey herself as a character in a different gender and had not focused on both her characters equally to help establish a level of comfort with both characters.

Celia is played by Lexi Freiman. She creates various relationships throughout the play. Celia is daughter to a Duke who is loathed by many and over cautious towards Celia. She is best friend and cousin to Rosalind. When first understanding Rosalind’s immediate infatuation with Orlando, she attempts to discourage Rosalind by persuading her that Orland did not appear to be ‘in’ love with her. Celia presents herself as a young woman who values Rosalind’s friendship and views her not only as a cousin, but as a sister. However I found Celia, as a character, particularly interesting as Shakespeare has portrayed her to be a young women who merely longs for her friendship with Rosalind to last, she does not appear to be as interested in men as Rosalind is, until Celia meets Oliver.

Now to discuss the extremely handsome young male lead in the play, Orlando, played by Stephen Phillips. Orlando flees to the forest after discovering that his older brother, Oliver, wishes to kill him. He is a powerful character in which audiences may be able to relate certain qualities of his to other characters found in Shakespearian plays. However, apart from his good looks and lovely smile, Orlando did not appear to show the same emotion as Rosalind did when he first met her. She appeared to be absolutely infatuated, but I did not feel a sense of ‘love at first sight’ until his soliloquy when Rosalind left. However, he was an impressive character and portrayed true hero-like qualities such as being virtuous, brave, faithful and noble, ideally, the perfect man for Rosalind.

Oliver (Johnathon Gavin), as a character, confused me. His lack of love for his younger brother had no justification apart from the overwhelming sense of jealousy, however, this trait is hardly a reason to kill his own brother when Oliver also had similar qualities, he had just not been able to portray them due to his hatred of his brother. I very much enjoyed his ability to create a complete change in personality and behaviour. Also, I believe much of his change of behaviour was bought on by the common theme of love. His love for Celia changed his perception on certain points he believed.

Adam (Glenn Hazeldine) played a small yet important role throughout the play. He believed it was his duty to serve Orlando and help him through the perils of Orlando’s life caused by Oliver. He may seem an insignificant character in this play, however, I believe him to be a key to expresses certain themes of the play such as loyalty, honour and love. He conveyed his love and loyalty towards Orlando by helping him escape from Oliver into the forest. It was small characters such as these which helped the me, and perhaps the audience, recognize how this themes and character in this play may have related to their lives.

Touchstone was played by Ed Wightman, and what an interesting and exciting role he plays! Touchstone lives up to his name, literally. Shakespeare has played with this character and given him a name which typically conveys his personality. Gold is rubbed to test its true value and worth against Touchstone. Therefore this conveys that Touchstone is testing Rosalind and Orlando’s love for ‘what it’s worth’, Wightman is opportunistic and clown-like in his portrayal of his character. He begins with Audrey as he believes she will be easy to seduce. Touchstone is truly a Commedia based character, he always has something to say and always manages to create a laugh in the audience.

Jaques was originally meant to be played by Damien Ryan, however, due to a sudden illness, John Bell took o the role as Jaques, even though he used a script at certain points, I believed he conveyed the character of Jaques perfectly. He truly took on the role as a typical Elizabethan ‘melancholy man’. Jaques portrayed himself as a man with high intellect and an understanding of what he thought was the meaning to his life. He was negative and dark, but also was interesting to watch.

Ed Wightman as Touchstone and Lexi Freiman as Celia

Audrey and William, the true country folk of France, at least that’s what I perceived them as. Audrey (Camilla Ah Kin) was the true uneducated and simplistic character with her own individuality and sense of belonging to Touchstone.

William, who was also played by Jonathon Gavin, was also a simplistic character who showed themes of love and loyalty towards his beloved, Audrey.

Phebe was played by Anna Houstan, she conveyed herself as a hippy-like character. She is instantly attracted to Ganymede, who in fact is a man. Her mistreatment and her manipulation of Silvius shows her true lack of kindness towards him.

Corin (Phillip Dodd) and Silvius (Glenn Hazeldine) are the shepards. They both are important characters as they show themes of the play such as love. Corin, in particular, appears to be more intellectually sound than Silvius as he conveys himself as a character who looks on other people’s lives as though he knows what they are experiencing. Silvius is mistreated and used by Phebe, however, his loyalty and love towards her eventually is in his favour when she agrees to marry him.

Performance styles included in this play were based on Commedia Dell’ Arte and were also influenced by what audiences demanded in the Elizabethan times. Performance styles and theatrical conventions were based on non-naturalistic theatre. However, during the first few scenes, all the actors were sitting on chairs on the stage. This is a Brechtian style of theatre and is common in presentational theatre; the actors are there as a troupe to perform for you This play truly was being portrayed in a Shakespearian sense. John Bell did an exceptional job of creating an unusual yet fascinating way to portray all characters. There were many soliloquies, song and dance, symbolism which related to transformation of object.

Soliloquies were performed by many of the characters including Orlando and Rosalind. These helped convey their inner thoughts and feelings towards certain situations or events which were occurring. The highly entertaining dance and songs performed by many of the characters was an effective and important theatrical convention. The music accompanying the songs throughout the play were from different cultures, to me this symbolized that the themes in this play such as love and loyalty can be found all over the world.

Songs and dance were also an interesting and creative way to move from one scene to the next. The performers danced with heightened and exaggerated movement which helped captivate the audience. Other theatrical conventions included heightened gestures, these helped maintain a high-level of energy throughout the theatre and kept the audience intrigued. An example of this can be seen through the dance and songs performed by the characters. These had exaggerated movements and kept audiences entertained. They were a necessary divider between conversations with the characters and the understanding of the audience; too much talk and the audience become unenthused. A

An example of transformation of object was the transformation of chairs to an animal. Corin used two chairs as wings during a song and dance to symbolize a bird. I thought this was a very effective way of symbolizing an animal without using ulterior props. This transformation could also be seen when Touchstone was using the chairs as stepping stones, a very effective technique. These techniques and conventions were easily identifiable and helped achieve the non-naturalistic style of theatre. Stagecraft elements and dramatic elements were used to portray many of the theatrical conventions which were intended to be interpreted by the audience.

Let us start with stagecraft elements. There were many interesting choices of costume. Each costume was from a different genre so the costume designer had obviously decided on having an eclectic range of costumes. Many of the characters were dressed in cream coloured suits with blue top hats and ties. I am unsure as to why they chose these particular colours and to why they were wearing the same type of costume. Celia and Rosalind had a range of costumes, but were initially dressed in typical fifties dresses which were green and blue. Their white hand gloves were a typical accessory, however, their high-heel shoes were an interesting and odd accessory to their dresses as these were not typically worn in the fifties. Touchstone was wearing my favourite outfit; a colourful pinstripe suit with white pants. He truly looked the clown he was supposed to be. Jaques was dressed in formal pants and shirt overlaid with a plain coloured trench coat. I was interested to understand why Jaques was the only character who did not wear shoes throughout the entire play. Oliver was dressed in typical male equestrian attire, looking smart and handsome. Orlando was wearing very casual clothes, this included pants that were tucked in to army boots and a shirt. Celia’s mother was dressed in a bright pink matching skirt and suit jacket with her hair neatly tied up in a bun. She wore a floral broach which indicated that her dress genre was around the late sixties. Sylvius and Cornin, the shepards, were dressed in typical American male attire. They wore checked shirts and vests. Phebe was portrayed as a hippy with a low-cut top and floral jeans where as Audrey was conveyed as a uneducated farmer’s daughter with her revealing dress and child-like hairstyle. The Duke’s servants/assistants were dressed in army attire, however, I believe this was the same army attire the Bell Shakespeare Company used in Macbeth.

Makeup was not typical of any genre, the only character who appeared to have Commedia style makeup was Touchstone, this helped convey physically that he was a clown.

Lighting and sound were element which were not overly used as a stagecraft elements. Lighting was used to convey scene changes and help make the transition between day and night where as sound was mainly in the form of songs and was emitted from musical instruments which were part of the set design.

The set design was simplistic and many items were used in transformation of objects. The set design included a pink divider which was used as an exit, seven standard chairs, a floor cloth which was jagged and dappled, this is a useful part of the set design as Bell Shakespeare Company were moving from theatre to theatre and needed to adapt their set design to suit the particular theatre. There was also a curtain attatched to a fly-bar which could be drawn across the whole stage and a painted black and silver brick wall located on stage left, which acted as entrance and exit for the actors/actresses. Also included in the set design was a small group of instruments consisting of drums, a keyboard and a tambourine, these were used during songs and dances. Last of all there were three baskets. These held props which the actors/actresses used throughout the play and were also used as seats.

Lastly, there were many simple yet effective props used throughout the play. Included in the list of props is a miniature trumpet used by Touchstone to portray his character as a clown, a picnic basket, picnic blankets, wine bottles, breadstick and fruit were used in the forest for food. Celia wore sunglasses whilst sitting on the basket to create a sunbathing scene. However stagecraft elements were to help the physical side of theatre, the help the emotional side of theatre the actors used dramatic elements.

As You Like It logo

There were many dramatic elements used in this performance to help convey certain themes of the play and emotions of the characters. The timing and rhythm of this play was used effectively throughout the play. An example of this is when Rosalind first meets Orlando. She rarely spoke or moved but when she did, she timed it to convey to the audience that she had fallen in love with Orlando; this was effective and interesting.

I believe the climax of this play occurs when Ganymede reveals himself as actually being Rosalind. However, I did not think that the characters appeared as shocked as I thought they would be to discover this news. There was also much conflict between relationships of the characters. This was successful in helping to convey the themes of they play; when the conflict was resolved, the characters finally understood the meaning of their life and how to act genuinely. The tension in this play could truly be seen when the Duke and Orlando were fighting. Orlando portrayed himself as agitated and humiliated when he lost. There appeared to be a lot of tension between himself and the family who did not appreciate him. Lastly, I thought the characters correctly used the space they had throughout the entire play. Throughout song and dancing the space was infinitely used, also, throughout soliloquies the characters still used exaggerated movement to promote what they were saying physically. This kept audiences captivated and interested in what the characters were actually trying to say.