As You Like It

As You Like It
By William Shakespeare. Directed by Jason Nash. New Farm Nash Theatre. Brisbane. May 11 – June2, 2018.

Initially the play relates the disputes and power struggles that occurred in families at the best of times and the worst times, after deaths in the families. Thus Orlando is removed by his brother Oliver, Rosalind by her uncle Frederick and Duke Senior also by Frederick. That is just the start of the intrigue and the relationships that develop. Rosalind disguises herself as a boy (Ganymede) and travels with cousin Celia as Ganymede’s sister Aliena to the Forest of Arden where all the exiles have gathered. Rosalind has seen Orlando at a wrestling match and fallen in love with him immediately. Now we see the development of various relationships and how they are all solved by the end of the play. When this pastoral romance was first performed in 1599-1600, the character of Rosalind was played by a boy which meant a boy was playing a girl who was playing being a boy. Complicated?

The centre of the action is focused on Rosalind, with Celia by her side, and her developing relationship with Orlando. Director Jason Nash has kept this at the centre of his modern placing of the play with good use of the open adaptable set which allowed the action to flow. Meg Bennett as Rosalind/Ganymede and Bianca Butler Reynolds as Celia/Aliena were effective in these critical roles but for the occasional lapses in delivery. The attention grabbing smaller roles were very well done by Chris Robinson as wrestler Charles, Chris Carroll as servant Adam and Phillipa Bowe as Duke Senior. The play ran smoothly with all performers inter-acting well.

However, I have to admit to having had trouble understanding some of the way the Shakespearean dialogue was delivered. The best known quote from the play is the seven stages of man and it did not resonate with me as it should. Perhaps many of the male characters could have been portrayed with more life and vigour

Overall, this is quite a good interpretation of a complicated play. It is seldom the audience gets the chance to see a Shakespeare play, other than one of his tragedies but here is your chance to view a play that demonstrates that society has not changed that much in four hundred years.

William Davies

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