Carmen Paddock reviews ‘As You Like It’, which she has recently seen at the Globe Theatre in London.
[dropcap size=big]T[/dropcap]his comedy of cross-dressing and woodland capers is always an audience favourite, and the Globe’s new production did not disappoint. There was dancing, singing, and wrestling aplenty, with humorous twists found at every turn – notably in the form of anachronisms and audience abuse.
Michelle Terry was 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 sold the audience on the youthful, head-over-heels romance. Globe veteran James Garnon made a memorably dry Jacques, and Gwyneth Keyworth’s Phoebe seemed more like a teenager in the throes of adolescent crushes than an adult knowingly tormenting Silvius – a choice which worked very well to sell both her infatuation with Rosalind and her acceptance of her shepherd at the conclusion. Certainly nothing disappointed in this production, yet nothing went above and beyond the usual well-directed, well-acted Shakespeare produced at the Globe. It was a delightful piece of theatre, every bit as sparkling as Rosalind’s banter, but it did not redefine understandings of the classic.
by Carmen Paddock
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