As curses go, there was certainly something in the air this week. The initial review performance of As You Like It was unavoidably cancelled after a malfunction rendered the stage unsafe, yet the rescheduled show was also interrupted when a theatre patron became distressed and had to leave, causing the cast to vacate the stage and start the scene from scratch. Unfortunate, but a testament to the grace and talents of the performers that they could maintain their characters despite the upset.
Though littered with moments of wry observation and bawdy humour – and studded with some splendid turns from Zahra Newman as Rosalind and the perennially interesting John Bell as both Jacques and Le Beau – Bell Shakespeare’s As You Like It is an uneven show. Uncertain in its motivation, the play awkwardly straddles the line between humour and pathos without seeming to reconcile exactly what emotion it is trying to evoke. Even the preternaturally hilarious Gareth Davies struggles as the motley fool, Touchstone (though props to designer Kate Aubrey-Dunn for his splendid regalia), who must fall back to exaggerated movements and cartoonish expression to impart the wit of his words.
You fear the heart of this discord lies with director Peter Evans. Without a clear sense of tone, the production tends to oscillate unchecked, with too much swagger and too little substance. At times the story feels rushed as the cast careens between the drab curtained backdrop (all the world’s a stage, after all), chewing through dialogue at a rate of knots. Other scenes are at a standstill, with odd blocking causing the cast to seem weirdly distanced from each other, their physical relationships stilted and unnatural. Resultantly, there is little frisson between any of the lovers, and the crucial, unusual courtship between Orlando and Ganymede (in fact his original love Rosalind disguised as a boy) doesn’t seem all that urgent.
While Newman leaps into her dual roles with admirable enthusiasm, it takes some time for Charlie Garber to seem comfortable as Orlando. I do suspect, however, that it is more a case of the audience needing time to ascertain exactly what kind of character we are watching here: hero, clown, knave? Evans doesn’t seem to know exactly what each character should be, and so they seem unfixed.
It remains an entertaining production, and it is certainly a hard heart that would not find something to laugh at here. But in the annals of Bell Shakespeare, it is unlikely to cause much of a stir.
2.5/5 stars
As You Like It is playing at the Playhouse, Sydney Opera House until Saturday March 28.
