The Royal Shakespeare Company’s transfer to London at the Roundhouse finds the celebrated company in rude form on its 50th anniversary.
One of eight productions currently at this fantastic theatre, As You Like It, may be seen as the quintessential pastoral play, but in director Michael Boyd’s hands the production has a strong erotic undercurrent and some complex observations about gender beneath its quaint pastoral themes.
The staging is simple and based around a thrust stage with a sheer vertical backdrop that is cleverly used to depict the confinement of the court scenes and the abandon of the forest scenes.
The bare stage is used effectively even though the design is somewhat too functional to be pleasing and evocative, particularly in the forest scenes.
Great use of the entire auditorium is used in the interval to deck the entire space in posters depicting Orlando’s love messages strewn on the trees of Arden.
It is, however, the beautiful and skilful ensemble playing of the cast that really brings the scenes and the complex themes of the play alive. In Katy Stephens and Jonjo O’Neill, Boyd has two great leads playing the main roles of Rosalind and Orlando.
Stephens manages her sudden transformation from court belle to forest lad in disguise with a lovely light touch while O’Neill goes from angry young man eager to pick fights with anyone to a love struck fool with great charm that is hard to resist.
The rest of the company lends able support with Touchstone and Jacques occasionally stealing the show with their scenes played for laughs with bouts of slapstick for good measure.
Most productions seem to cast Aliena as a minor character that, true to her name, is on the fringe of the central love interest, but in this production Boyd pitches her right in the centre of the action.
Her relationship with Rosalind is central to the sexual tension that forms the basis of this production.
There are numerous instances during the production where the audience senses strong sexual undertones in the relationship between Aliena and Rosalind and a sense of unease as Orlando starts to usurp her place in Rosalind’s affections.
The same homoerotic vibes can be felt in the scenes where Orlando, despite professing his love for Rosalind, is progressively drawn towards her in the guise of Ganymede.
On the other hand, Phoebe loses all interest in Ganymede when she finds out he is actually Rosalind in disguise even though the same person had previously driven her crazy with lust.
It seems to be solely down to clothes to distinguish heterosexual and homosexual love and Shakespeare challenges audiences to question what is really at the basis of sexual attraction.
The script’s initial scenes can be seen to reinforce traditional 16th century gender stereotypes, with men and women having very distinct roles in society.
The Duke sees no harm in allowing his brother’s banished daughter to remain in his household and close to his own daughter because women are deemed to be harmless and uninterested in the political machinations of Court.
Men, on the other hand, are portrayed as strong, physical and wise with little time for emotional outbursts. Yet as the story unfolds, the roles are dramatically reversed, with the men increasingly being outplayed and outwitted by the women.
The cross-dressing scenes raise another interesting point about the relationship between these gender stereotypes and outer appearance.
Rosalind’s flimsy disguise as a man seems to be all that determines her role in society. Once dressed as a man she becomes a powerful voice able to stand her ground amid the male-dominated circles she finds herself surrounded by.
Yes it is a man’s world in Court, but in the Forest of Arden ambiguity reigns supreme and allows the audience to see a far richer view of mankind than is determined by the limitations of gender based stereotypes.
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