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 The Theatreguide.London Review

In March 2020 the covid-19 epidemic forced the closure of all British theatres. Some companies adapted by putting archive recordings of past productions online, others by streaming new shows, and various online archives preserve still more vintage productions. Even as things return to normal we continue to review the experience of watching live theatre onscreen.

As You Like It
Shakespeare's Globe 2009 and Marquee.tv  June 2023

Shakespeare's happiest and healthiest romantic comedy was done with infectious high spirits and even some touches of fresh invention in this sparkling 2009 production at London's Globe, now available online.

(Quick reminder: boy and girl meet cute but are parted. For reasons that make sense at the time she disguises herself as a boy, and he doesn't recognise her when they meet again. She has fun teasing and testing him, he passes and they live happily ever after.)

The full-size replica of Shakespeare's original theatre was built two decades ago not just as a tourist attraction but as a working laboratory, to see what could be discovered about the plays by playing and watching them in their native habitat.

But one of my recurring disappointments has been that too many directors staged the plays very much as they would in a conventional proscenium theatre.

I am happy to see that director Thea Sharrock and designer Dick Bird came closer than most to making use of the Globe's unique space in this As You Like It.

Paradoxically, they did it by modifying the space, doubling the size of the stage and adding runways through the audience. Though this isn't what Shakespeare's original audiences saw, it brings modern viewers much closer to the actors and the world of the play much closer to us.

And in a play that is all about sharing – and not just telling about – the joys of young love, that makes all the difference.

Once past the darker plot-setting opening scenes, all of the play's characters are bursting with happiness and energy, and director Sharrock keeps her actors on the move, unable to confine themselves to one spot or even the main stage.

No one stands still when they can stride, meander or bounce around, and the audience's constant head-turning to keep up with them (or, in this recording, the jumping between cameras to avoid missing anything) draws us into the same joyful energy.

Naomi Frederick makes a satisfactorily tomboyish Rosalind, who sometimes needs reminding that she's actually a girl and at other moments is in danger of forgetting she's supposed to be a boy.

In the usually thankless role of Orlando, too often played as just a straight man and feed to Rosalind's playful wit, Jack Lasky repeatedly steals our attention and affection by giving the lad the goofy grin of a boy tipsy with first love.

I've fallen in love with many Rosalinds, but Lasky is the first Orlando I've felt the impulse to hug.

And while I've enjoyed at least a score of As You Like Its over the years, this one still had things to show me. It is a play built on couples, not just the the four pairs who get married in the end, but two sets of warring brothers.

And yet for the first time it really struck me that Dominic Rowan's court jester Touchstone and Tim McMullan's grouchy Jacques were brothers, both characters consciously role-playing for the entertainment of their friends, even at the cost of never being taken seriously.

And there is one truly audacious moment here that I mustn't spoil, except to say that somebody discovers something much earlier than is usually the case, and the way that changes everything that follows works brilliantly.

Totally accessible and entertaining to the Shakespeare neophyte, this happy couple of hours has things to surprise and delight the most jaded veteran.

Gerald Berkowitz