You expect greenery in As You Like It – Shakespeare’s characters hot foot it to the forest to find love and liberty. But Liam Bunster’s wooden stage in the RSC’s outdoor theatre is painted a beguiling aquamarine. Identity and affection are set swimming in this play, tweaked with disguises, games of gender, characters losing themselves and emerging reborn.
This summer show trims the text to a lean 80 minutes. In theory you could make bold choices; edit it into an argument. You could ditch the jester’s dud japes, for a start. But Brendan O’Hea’s production doesn’t clarify the play’s heart or heighten its fun: it feels too ordinary for the target audience of families and first timers.
Shakespeare’s opening scenes are harsh; this director’s cut quickly skitters into peril. As Rosalind, our heroine, Letty Thomas is contained in sombre navy. Exiled from court and disguised as a chap, she’s released into a stylish slouch beneath a chocolate trilby. She warms up and speeds up once the flirt’s afoot with Orlando. Thomas recently starred in Paines Plough’s dating drama Strategic Love Play – not a bad title for Shakespeare’s comedy.
An injured ankle left Luke Brady’s bashful, whole-hearted Orlando seated in a chair. This meant Peter Dukes’ wrestler had to batter himself, rather brilliantly – kick in the nuts, throttle and fall – while Brady glowered on the sidelines. In a show short on invention, it was an inspired response to disaster.
Inventive too are Bunster’s covetable costumes. Arriving in the forest with flounces and baby-blue hatbox, Christina Tedders’ quizzical Celia clearly comes from the Marie Antoinette school of shepherdry. Her friendship with Rosalind is the heartbeat of the play’s early scenes, despite their affectionate banter being slashed – though Tedders catches the loss as they drift apart without Rosalind even noticing.
In a staunch cast of actor-musicians, everyone gets a moment – a dance, an insight or a burst of coloratura. Trevor Fox’s jaundiced, foppish Jaques makes “All the world’s a stage” a scathing catalogue of credulous humanity, and there’s chemistry between Natasha Magigi’s tumultuous shepherdess and Chris Nayak as her woebegone suitor. But none of it quite releases the play’s journey into renewal.
At Holloway Garden theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon, until 1 September
