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BrumHour saw As You Like It at the invite of The RSC.
By Dave Massey x.com/BrumHour
Review: As You Like It at The RSC, The Holloway Garden Theatre
⭐⭐⭐⭐A fun summer production.
Directed by Brendan O’Hea
The Forest of Arden plays host to this story of love and hidden identity as Rosalind (Letty Thomas) disguises herself as Ganymede but Phebe (Natasha Magigi) has fallen for Ganymede and Orlando (Luke Brady) loves Rosalind. And Silvius (Chris Nayak) well Silvius he loves Phebe.
This stripped-down version of As You Like It, it features a blue circular stage floor and a blue slatted backdrop, opening up to give even more space. Other than the performers and a few props, the stage is pretty empty. It really allows a chance to listen to the dialogue in a different environment. I can imagine this story being a great first experience for many people, and for that, the secret of its success is its difference to normal expectations of theatre with its lack of backdrop and zero lighting apart from the daylight.
This is a fun group production with some dramatic overtones, and features the wonderful “All the world’s a stage” speech delivered by Trevor Fox as Jaques. There are plenty of musical moments featuring the cast performing the instruments. The energy from the cast filled the whole outdoor stage with a welcoming warmth, and made this particular production enjoyable. For some younger people, this might have been their first experience and it ran at just about 90 minutes without interval.
Luke Brady was placed on a chair at the side of the stage throughout this performance so it is difficult to assess what his Orlando is really like, he certainly delivers the lines well despite having to rest his foot. The rest of the cast played into his situation too, with some very comedic results.
A fun summer production, As You Like It is at The RSC until 1st September 2024. Book tickets here: rsc.org.uk/as-you-like-it.
