Theatre review: As You Like It (RSC / RST)

For my second As You Like It of the year (second of a planned three, which in most years would make it the most ubiquitous Shakespeare play, but Macbeth has got plans guys,) Omar Elerian's RSC debut has a high-concept cast: Two of them are former presidents of Equity. Oh, and almost all of them are over 70. The conceit (quite simply delivered in a speech to the audience at the start, something any number of elaborate artistic visions might want to consider,) is that this isn't so much a production of As You Like It as a memory of one, an imagined 1975 production from which all the cast members with any significant amount of lines have conveniently survived, and have reconvened in a rehearsal room to try and recreate. A quartet of younger actors join them to read in the roles of absent friends, as well as to help get the leads back on their feet after any scenes that require particular exertion.

This is probably one of the best Shakespeare plays to give a fairly loose treatment like this, as it's one of the best arguments that the plays were written by someone in the company rather than a distant auteur: The plot's not so much carefully crafted, as quite obviously cobbled together on the fly.

Still, its central strand is Rosalind (Geraldine James,) niece of an usurping Duke who's kept at court because of her friendship with her cousin Celia (Maureen Beattie.) But when Orlando (Malcolm Sinclair) passes through the court for a wrestling match, it reminds the Duke (Robin Soans) that the families of his old enemies are still around, and he banishes Rosalind. She and Celia flee to the forest to find her exiled father, while Orlando also realises it's wisest if he keeps a low profile there. As Rosalind and Orlando had fallen instantly in love when they last saw each other, there are inevitably completely avoidable complications when they meet again in disguise.

The obvious place to point to as probable inspiration for this reimagined treatment is the play's most famous, Seven Ages of Man speech by Jaques (alternate Christopher Saul,) which tracks a man's life from helpless baby to helpless old man. But fortunately this isn't a play that feels too stretched by this highly specific focus, as there's melancholy themes of age, death and rebirth throughout its generally sunny springtime nature.

It makes for an intriguing version of the play if not one of its funniest incarnations: If the cast aren't quite up to flinging themselves around the stage in service of the plot's chaos, some of the best jokes come when this is acknowledged - like when Orlando and Charles (Ewart James Walters) have to make do with an arm-wrestle in place of their deadly clash. Touchstone is the most reliably funny character, largely because James Hayes sticks to the best way of dealing with a Robert Armin clown, by making sure there's a lot of fourth wall-breaking ad-libbing to break up the 400-year-old topical standup (an exasperated "James Hayes, Classical Actor," becomes his mantra every time he enters in a new silly costume.)

There's some cuts here and there to make sure we're only getting the best of the convoluted love rhombus scenes - Touchstone and Audrey only get the one legally questionable marriage ceremony, and there's something weirdly sweet about Cleo Sylvestre's relish of Audrey's "foulness." And David Fielder's Silvius became a quick audience favourite in his pursuit of Celia Bannerman's Phoebe.

The plain wooden rehearsal room of Ana Inés Jabares-Pita's design does hide some flourishes as the memory of a long-gone production comes to life, although I could have done with it happening more and sooner. But it does lead to quite a moving finale, its visuals complemented by James getting to deliver a heavily rewritten epilogue that focuses on this production's unique selling point. It won't go down in the annals as one of the big belly-laugh As You Like Its, but it does have its own brand of sweetness mixed with a melancholy to rival Jaques'.

As You Like It by William Shakespeare is booking until the 5th of August at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon.

Running time: 2 hours 50 minutes including interval.

Photo credit: Ellie Kurttz.