This comedy of cross-dressing and woodland capers is always an audience favourite, and the Globe’s new production does not disappoint.
There is dancing, singing, and wrestling aplenty, with humorous twists found at every turn – notably in the form of anachronisms and audience abuse. Michelle Terry is an exuberant Rosalind, comically, poignantly in love without losing any of her humanity or wit. While she and her Orlando, Simon Harrison, seemed slightly older than the usual casting of the lovers, they sell the audience on youthful, head-over-heels romance. Globe veteran James Garnon makes a memorably dry Jacques, and Gwyneth Keyworth’s Phoebe seems more like a teenager in the throes of adolescent crushes than an adult knowingly tormenting Silvius – a choice which works very well to sell both her infatuation with Rosalind and her acceptance of her shepherd at the conclusion. Certainly nothing disappoints in this production, yet nothing goes above and beyond the usual well-directed, well-acted Shakespeare produced at the Globe. It is a delightful piece of theatre, every bit as sparkling as Rosalind’s banter, but it does not redefine understandings of the classic.
As You Like It is at Shakespeare’s Globe until 5th September
cast
David Beames Duke Senior/Duke Frederick
Daniel Crossley Touchstone
Patrick Driver Corin
James Garnon Jacques
Simon Harrison Orlando
Gwyneth Keyworth Phebe
William Mannering Oliver /Amiens
Jack Monaghan Silvius
Sophia Nomvete Audrey
Ellie Piercy Celia
Gary Shelford Charles/Hymen
Perri Snowdon Le Beau/Jacques de Boys
Michelle Terry Rosalind
Phil Whitchurch Adam
creatives
Directed by
Blanche McIntyre
Designed by
Andrew D Edwards
Composed by
Johnny Flynn
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