Peter Viney's Blog

By William Shakespeare
Directed by Ellen McDougall
Designer Wills
Costume Max Johns
Composer Michael Henry
Additional Text – Travis Alabanza

Shakespeare’s Globe, London
Sunday 24th September 2023, 13.00

CAST
Nina Bowers – Rosalind
Isabel Adomakoh Young – Orlando
Macy-Jacob Seelochan – Celia
Jessica Alade- Charles the Wrestler / Phoebe
Alex Austin – Jacques
Emmanuel Akwafo- Amiens / Hymen
Stephanie Jacob – Adam / Corin
Mika Onyx Johnson – Silvius (incapacitated)
Tonderai Munyevu- Duke Senior
Jessica Murrain – Oliver
Tessa Parr – Touchstone
Dale Rapley- Duke Frederick
Hannah Ringham- Audrey
Guy Woolf – Reading in as Le Beau and Silvius

MUSIC
Sophie Crawford- accordion
Rio Kai- double bass
Shirley Tetteh- guitat
Michael Henry- MD / descant recorder / field drum
Rosie Bergonzi- percussion

We’d had a very disappointing night at The Globe on Saturday, for Macbeth (review linked) and our feet were dragging somewhat as we walked there for Sunday afternoon’s As You Like It. On the other hand As You Like It has had far better reviews, with the only naysayer being The Guardian, surprisingly given the content. We’d been to Borough Market to get food for the evening, after the drive home, and had coffee and a sandwich at the Globe coffee shop and there was Simon Russell-Beale at the next table. That cheered us up, just seeing him. Then Karen was reading the programme in advance, and commented that it was very good, in great contrast to the ludicrous political article on Macbeth the evening before.

It’s not been a favourite play in the past, as I inevitably find the plot and sub-plots confusing. The best one we’ve seen was Alex Waldmann and Pippa Nixon at the RSC ten years ago. One review said that the plot in this version was even more confusing than normal, due to the gender swapping, but we should forget that, just sit back and enjoy it. The weird thing is, this is the version where I’ve found the plot clearest.

The gender swapping is the big thing here. They’ve gone for full-on LGBT+ casting where (we think at least) that some men are playing women and some women are playing men. But it might not be. Or perhaps it could. The programme uses first names and avoids ‘he’ and ‘she’ and largely avoids a neuter ‘they’ too. I’ll try and follow. The major difference is that it’s not a knee-jerk 50 / 50 casting imposed on a play full of battles with women playing hearty and brutal warriors, which I dislike. It’s deliberate gender confusion and swapping and the play is ideal for it. The cast is young, we’ve seen hardly any of them before and every one of them is terrific. As reviews suggest, it’s a lot of fun. Costumes are really bright, yet they use no set except the Globe building itself and actually no props at all either. To compensate a little, the musicians and stagehands are in Elizabethan dress.

There’s no greenery for the forest, but then you couldn’t have enough. The programme note had us discussing the role of the forest in Shakespeare (Two Gentlemen of Verona, Midsummer Night’s Dream, As You Like It.) It pointed out that it was a wilder more dangerous place in the 17th century. It had us talking about the Catskills near Woodstock NY where we walked on the mountain in virgin hemlock forest a few months ago … nearly all East Coast American forest is second growth.

There was a pre-show handing out lavender bunches, then Audrey, Jaques and Amiens were sitting around on the stage, and then an explanation by Alex Austin (Jaques) that Guy Woolf, normally ensemble, would be reading in the parts of the courtier Le Beau, and the rural swain, Silvius.

Alex said that The Globe had no (couldn’t afford?) understudies … you’d think they’d need two, normally one male, one female, but here I guess one would do. Anyway, Guy had to wear black jeans and T-shirt and read the script so little preparation. It allowed a great ad lib from Nina Bowers (Rosalind) later. When Phoebe was complaining to Orlando about Silvius, Nina said ‘Yes. He hasn’t even got a costume!‘ We guess the actor playing Silvius was of different height and build. Everyone loves that sort of apposite ad lib.

Costume by Max Johns is wonderful, always riffing on Shakesperean with modern touches.

The lead trio are superb. Stars are born. Add Jaques. Four stars are born. Nina Bowers is Rosalind, and Isabel Adomakoh Young is Orlando. Macy-Jacob Seelochan is Celia. Rosalind and Celia are a tremendous double act. Nina Bowers is lithe, constantly moving, skipping, dynamic, flirty. Macy-Jacob (M-J) plays Celia as laconic, irritated with Rosalind, constantly reacting to the action. We discussed this one. I think Celia is potentially a fabulous role and often steals the scenes. Karen decided that M-J was quite the best Celia we have seen.

Isabel Adomakoh Young is shorter than Rosalind, but pugnacious with a beard and moustache. Both Orlando and Rosalind have silvery grey costumes, in Rosalind’s case in three related versions … a long skirt dress, then it looks as if the dress is cut up and tucked in for the pose as Ganymede as a man, then in part two slashed puff pants over bare legs. Celia is more formal, and in switching to Aliena for the forest scenes, just wraps an orange skirt round the courtly dress, but has a proper peasant skirt underneath in part two.

When Orlando challenges Duke Frederick’s wrestler (Jessica Alade, who then switches to Phoebe), the wrestling ring is formed in the pit with ropes and done as a choreographed fight-dance. Duke Frederick (Dale Rapley) is obviously male, and older and powerful. Jessica Murrain plays Orlando’s nasty brother, Oliver de Boys, and looks male and sounds female. That’s the hallmark. I’d never picked up on the name de Boys for the sons of the deceased Sir Rowland. You have potential double meaning now, but the name is an English spelling of ‘bois’ or woods, as in Black Boys in Sussex which causes accidental offence. Then Jaques pronounced by an English person might come out as ‘Jakes’ which was Elizabethan for toilet and I’m sure that would have got into the original. It’s how I’d pronounce it, with Jaques correcting (not my idea. It has been done though you have to know what ‘jakes’ meant).

Orlando has had to flee to the forest to escape his brother’s wrath, and the eighty year old gardener Adam (Stephanie Jacob) goes with him. Little do they know that Duke Senior (Tonderai Munyevu) has set up in the forest with Amiens and the other loyal courtiers. This forest is different too. A wide range of anarchic costumes, no rural accents (maybe a good thing but it loses some humour … Shakespeare knew that Mummerset and Welsh got laughs from his audiences). They still do, bu it somehow it wouldn’t fit. There’s enough going on. The programme describes the rustics as ‘citizens of the forest’ but I’d think citizens lived in cities. But the Forest of Arden is supposed to be in France, so maybe it can be used more widely, but only after 1789, I’d say.

All the gender fluidity works because the crux of the play is that Rosalind is banished to the forest by ther usurping uncle. Her sweet cousin Celia loyally goes with her, so Rosalind becomes Ganymede and Celia becomes Aliana.

Orlando has fallen for Rosalind who had watched him wrestling, so starts posting love poems everywhere. Orlando meets Ganymede who says that ‘he’ can act out the part of Rosalind and teach Orlando how to woo.

The forest scene has the audience assisting with placing the ‘poems’ that Orlando wants distributed round the forest, then Rosalind chooses someone to read one. There is a lot of movement back and forth here.

Meanwhile the rustic Phoebe sees what she thinks is the manly Ganymede and falls in love. Touchstone the jester falls for another rustic wench, Audrey. Then the brother Oliver arrives, repents his bad deeds after Orlando saves him from a lioness (Shakespeare’s knowledge of French fauna was on a par with his knowledge of Bohemian beaches). Of course Oliver and Celia then fall for each other.

The Phoebe / Silvius interaction suffers because of reading the part in, but the Silvius admiration for Rosalind / Ganymede thread suggests it would have been great. Then there’s Audrey and Touchstone, the jester. That’s a hard part, as the lines mainly don’t work nowadays, but it was improved by spritely energy.

I wondered about Jaques and ad libbing later with that Globe phenomenon of the loud plane flying over. It came right in the Seven Ages of Man speech. They always manage to hit key speeches. Alex Austin was a natural and relaxed ad libber, but I guess that was the one point in his role where he couldn’t. From what we could hear through the plane noise it was well done. At least it wasn’t a helicopter. They tend to come down to have a look and drown out the lines completely.

Audience interaction is important throughout and The Globe site has 20 on stage photos, but add 16 ‘audience interaction’ photos.

The dancing had Karen looking up references to Vogueing, which started in LGBT+ African-American and Latin communities in New York, though so long ago they’d just have said ‘gay.’ There is much online about Madonna’s appropriation of the style.

There is a lot of music, good strong all cast pieces. Amiens, played by Emmanuel Akwafo, has an increased part as leader in all the singing from the start. One criticism here. They should list and credit the songs in the programme. Theatres rarely do, because when using known modern songs they want surprise for the audience. However it is unfair and disrespectful to composers and lyricists, as well as irritating to an audience who might want to buy the songs later. I often mention this in reviews. Suffice it to say that the Watermill Theatre always lists and credits the songs. The Evening Standard reviewer is hipper than us, and points out the songs are by Troye Sivan and Tegan and Sarah. Thanks. I thought one was quoting briefly from Chapel of Love, though it wasn’t the original Chapel of Love. It adds they’re sung ‘not well but charmingly’ which is about right.

When all is resolved, and we wait for Rosalind to re-emerge as a woman, silk cloths with a split fall from the roof and Rosalind emerges through them re-born. That Standard review says it represents a giant vagina and Karen had said the same right after the play, ‘Did you notice the huge vagina?’ I’m too innocent to pick everything up.

There are a good few lines added for prologue and epilogue. At the end, Emmanuel Akwafo continues his Master of Ceremonies role (shared with Alex Austin) and exclaims Welcome to our queer party! but I think we’d sussed that already.

Right at the end after the curtain call, Nina Bowers does an incredible beautifully athletic solo dance quietly, ending in a cross-legged yoga pose. That’s the lot. Phew!

This is a much earlier picture, but Nina Bowers can certainly move:

While this has not been a good year for Shakespeare in general, this As You Like It is easily the best Shakespeare production we have seen this year. It’s different, very funny, lively, exuberant, stimulating and creative. We said we’d love to see this director and cast take on Midsummer Night’s Dream which also fits gender fluidity. Twelfth Night is a possibility too. It garnered lots of four star reviews, maybe so in other years, but this year it gets a five.

*****

WHAT THE CRITICS SAID
four star
Dzifa Benson, The Telegraph ****
Daily Mail ****
Nick Curtis, Evening Standard ****
Andrzej Lukowski, Time Out ****
Sunday Mirror ****
Daily Express ****
The Arts Desk ****

three star
Sam Marlowe, The Stage ***
Victoria Segal, Sunday Times ***
Dominic Maxwell, The Times ***
Sacrilege? Messing with a winning formula? No, for the most part the front foot-forward, LGBTQ+ larkiness goes rather well with this tale of disguise, strategically swapped genders and, finally, all nonsense negotiated with, true love. 
Julia Rank, London Theatre ***

two star
Miriam Gillinson, The Guardian **

LINKS ON THIS BLOG
AS YOU LIKE IT

As You Like It RSC 2013
As You Like It, Globe 2015
As You Like It, National Theatre, 2015
As You Like It, Globe 2018
As You Like It, RSC 2019
As You Like It, RSC 2023
As You Like It, Globe 2023
As You Like It, RSC 2024
As You Like It, Ralph Fiennes Season, Bath 2025

JESSICA ALADE
The Vortex, Chichester 2023