As You Like It

Belvoir’s rendition of Shakespeare’s comedy As You Like It is a rollicking ride and a big crowd pleaser. Full of cross dressing men and women, mistaken identities and a flock of jumping, grazing sheep, this production does provide a lot of colour and movement which makes it easy to watch for those not so familiar with Shakespeare.

But in his effort to reinvent this classic tale, director Eamon Flack has taken a lot of liberties with the script. Some ideas work and are really quite charming, but others fall flat.

I’m all for modern versions of Shakespeare, but changing dialogue and adding modern English in an effort to qualify a joke or explain the text is insulting to the audience. There are genuine funny moments here, but there are also a lot of cheap jokes.

That said the cast are cohesive and obviously enjoy performing this interpretation. Alison Bell as Rosalind turns in a fresh performance that escapes the predictability which so many Shakespearean performances suffer from. Charlie Garber as Touchstone is charming as usual.

Alistair Watts’ set design is an exciting take on the forest of Arden with its lush green velvet curtain, bright signage, mobile trees and hidden fish pond. It really is one of the best designs I have seen on the upstairs Belvoir stage.

Whitney Fitzsimmons

Image: Alison Bell (Rosalind), Ashley Zukerman (Orlando) and Trevor Jamieson (Adam). Photographer: Heidrun Lohr.

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