 |
| As You Like It in rehearsal. Photo – Josephine Sculpture Park. |
As You Like It
Written by William Shakespeare
Directed by Kathi E. B. Ellis
Reviewed
by Keith Waits
Entire contents are copyright ©
2013 Keith Waits. All rights reserved.
In the
third entry in this summer series, director Kathi Ellis returns again to one of
Shakespeare’s pastorals to capitalize on the environment at Josephine Sculpture
Park. Having mounted Macbeth and The Tempest in this unique outdoor
setting, she now ventures into the Forest of Arden to follow Rosalind, Jacques
and Touchstone in one of the Bard’s most effective comedies.
Because
of the location, it is a requisite in these productions that the work of a
sculptor is a key element of the design concept. This year’s 3-D work, by
Andrew Marsh, consists of 3 totemic forms, alien trees barren of branches or
foliage, the twisted sinews suggestive of human form, with massive shapes like
fingers gripping the core. They stand on their own as powerful art, yet are
incorporated fully into the staging, with characters climbing up and down
frequently. It is the most potent merging of theatre and sculptural forms in
this unique series, and a hopeful portent of future collaborations here.
As You Like It’s story of noblemen banished into the wilderness is an examination of
true authority in repose, and true love stumbled upon in the glade. Characters
are thrown together in the heady idyll of Arden and changed by the experience
in varying, but in almost all cases meaningful, ways. The key romance of
Rosalind and Orlando utilizes one of the author’s favorite devices – the woman
pretending to be a man – and it becomes one of the most vital and provocative
of Shakespeare’s gender-bending masquerades, as Rosalind’s “Ganymede” endeavors
to fulfill a more aggressive “male” personality and welcomes Orlando’s romantic
advances while in that disguise.
The
success of any production of this play hangs on an engaging Rosalind, and Erica
McClure’s cheeky and sharp-tongued rendition fills the bill. As Orlando, Chris
Bartlett is dashing and energetic, although his tendency towards a British
accent in early scenes was self-conscious and distracting. But he relaxed into
good results as the evening progressed. Keith McGill was a solid clown as
Touchstone, contrasting florid movements with a touch of the Catskills in his
timing. Clint Gill’s Jacques was perhaps a bit more jolly than others I have
seen. Yet the low-level clowning suggests that the character’s famed
melancholia is just buried a little deeper than usual.
The
staging includes enough physical comedy and delivery just broad enough to
overcome (mostly) the natural elements without sacrificing all semblance of
nuance. A crowd of about 50 was in attendance for the opening, which strikes me
as a good crowd for outdoor theatre on a Thursday night in Lawrenceburg. The
sound of insects became part of the sound design, and the thrum of traffic
noise from a nearby highway faded into the background, even if the ill-timed
appearance of a low-flying helicopter during Jacque’s famous “All the world’s a
stage…” was unfortunate. Professionalism carried the production through such moments,
and the addition of ground lighting for the sculptures and the stage kept the
action illuminated as the final scenes extended beyond the dusk.
As You Like It
June 6-8, 13-15 at 7:00
JC Summer Stage
Josephine Sculpture Park
Frankfort, Kentucky
No comments:
Post a Comment