Review: AS YOU LIKE IT, Shakespeare’s Globe

Photo credit: Marc Brenner

The Globe’s summer season usually offers several of Shakespeare’s best comedies for an evening of love, laughter and singalongs. The latest, As You Like It, is one of the lesser-appreciated, perhaps as its plot could be seen as a mashup of ideas from other, more distinct comedies of the era. Two young ladies, Rosalind and Celia, flee into the woods after a disagreement with the Duke, disguise themselves as a boy and a shepherdess, and then have to navigate falling in love while keeping their identities secret. As it must, it ends happily in a whopping four marriages, and Rosalind’s father, the true Duke, being reinstated. 

This production feels similarly like a mashup of the best bits of other comedies. Directed by Sean Holmes and Charlie Josephine (who also stars as Orlando), it is a production that seems to have many good ideas, but can’t quite make them meet. The court of the usurping Duke presents itself in brightly coloured Regency attire (designed beautifully by Paul Wills), perhaps to represent extravagance and posturing, however set against Wills’ set of huge blank canvases, it occasionally looks awkward and discordant. When the characters move to the Forest of Arden, the colours become more natural (except, for some reason, Celia’s shepherdess garb), with the impressions of trees hastily scrawled on the blank face of the backdrop. These two very visually different concepts are never fully brought together, and despite being nice to look at, feel a little unfinished. 

The music is deservedly a prominent feature, and Katie Richardson executes her composition with gusto as her on-stage character of Hymen, who gets the crowd singing along throughout the second act. The prominence of drums, however, underscores the feeling that the production is fighting against its own ferality, wanting to descend into something more wild and raucous as the characters imbed themselves further into the forest, however it’s not quite reflected on stage. The energy of the performers keeps the pace up, with a play with many side characters and plot diversions, and it feels satisfyingly coherent as a whole story.

The performers are the life of the production. Charlie Josephine’s laddish, earnest Orlando is a fresh take on a younger brother who wasn’t given the elevated education of his peers. Lola Shalam’s Rosalind (and later Ganymede) is assertive, irreverent and captivating to watch. A comic stand-out is Gracie Oddie-James’s Celia, who is wonderfully ditsy and vibrant, delivering each line with a cadence both baffling and somehow still authentic. The supporting cast also shine in their respective roles, particularly Thomas Josling (Oliver), Molly Madigan (Phoebe) and Busa Wickramasuriya (Silvius), bringing the comedy to the forefront and delivering the verse clearly so the audience can follow who is in love with who, and who is pretending to be who.

Overall, the production is a crowd-pleaser performed wonderfully, but doesn’t quite land on a premise, and under-delivers on some interesting ideas, leaving some scenes feel a little awkward. It is a fun summer evening out that delves no deeper.

Pacy and well-performed.

*** Three stars

Reviewed by: Oli Burgin

As You Like It plays at Shakespeare’s Globe until 25 October, with tickets available here.