Shakespeare’s As You Like It will be presented in the Royal Botanic Gardens. Image:Matt Dell
The Bard’s As You Like It, Glenn Elston’s latest annual summertime offering in Melbourne’s Botanic Gardens, is charming but patchy, and won’t bear much scrutiny from Shakespeare buffs.
Of course, this may not be entirely Elston’s fault – As You Like It has its fans, but many (this reviewer included) consider it to be one of Shakespeare’s more tiresome efforts, in which several characters make their lives infinitely more difficult by virtue of making daft decisions. The “pastoral comedy” features a posse of city slickers who are pushed or skip out of the noble court and hang out with some shepherd for a while, enjoying the simple life. The play’s heroine, Rosalind, has fallen in love, and disguised herself as a boy (for unrelated reasons), and manages to get herself into an epic love polygon which could have been avoided by simply taking off her hat. Needless to say, everything works out fine, more or less – the noble folks get what and who they wanted, and the poorer characters get what they get and they don’t get upset. Curtains!
At any rate, there’s an argument to be made that the cast were never going to be served especially well by this particular play, but since it’s not viable to perform A Midsummer Night’s Dream every year, the catalog needs to be switched up occasionally. The cast, to their credit, do a handy job with the material, despite being forced into some rather ridiculous costuming. Main stage newcomer works hard to deliver a sympathetic, enjoyable Rosalind, and Mark Dickinson is solid as the philosophically-inclined Jacques, even if his performance does occasionally seem to belong to a production other than the one he’s in. Tonally, he just seems to be on a different wavelength to his fellow performers.
Elston’s direction doesn’t mine anything particularly compelling from the script, save for a few moments of borderline-inappropriate physical comedy, although his commitment to the play’s musicality lends the proceedings a merry edge.
Context, as they say, is everything, and a balmy evening, a good Pinot Noir and a delicious picnic make for a pretty decent context in which to watch some less-than-taxing, brightly-coloured theatre. This As You Like It is unlikely to hit the spot with hardcore theatre buffs, but it should be pleasant enough to please the masses.
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
As You Like It
Australian Shakespeare Company
Royal Botanic Gardens
Written by William Shakespeare
Director: Glenn Elston
Cast: Louisa Fitzhardinge, Charlie Sturgeon, Mark Dickinson, Claire Nicholls, Lucy Gransbury, Kevin Hopkins, Hugh Sexton, Tony Rive and Scott Jackson
30 December 2014 – 14 March 2015
