OBSERVER: As You Like It
The veritable nonsense of As You Like It has been brought to the fore with verve and vigour in the Melbourne Shakespeare Company’s reimagining of the work.
The outdoor setting of St Kilda’s Botanic Gardens fits equitably with the conceit of romance triumphant in the face of all adversity which includes the rightful court being banished, heirs dispossessed and paramours separated.
Shakespeare was well acquainted with the absurdity of the comic potential of his day where women were not allowed on stage.
An actor impersonating a girl dresses as a boy to teach the man she is in love with to woo. He does not realise the one he is feigning to woo is the woman of his dreams.
Director Annabelle Tudor has given her cast licence to realise the comic potential of their characters where the exuberance and joy is brought to the fore without compromising the language.
The inclusion of pop songs under Tim Bland’s musical direction complements the comedic. The silly and ridiculous nature of love found in those songs is given an added dimension by an association with Shakespeare who parodies the irrational course of love and the contradiction inherent in adoration.
We are actually witnessing an emotional agelessness that mocks our very pretentions that is still relevant today.
All’s well that ends well in this season of the bard that goes to mid-summer.
Like a dream, there’s much a do about nothing by way of substance but there’s fun in equal measure where a comedy of errors allows love’s labour to be both lost and found. Catch it if you can.
Until December 21 in the St Kilda Botanical Gardens
Review by David McLean