Theatre
As You Like It
San Anton Gardens

All kinds of adventures happen in forests. At least, conventional storytelling takes the concept of venturing out into “the forest” – the unknown and emerging with better knowledge and understanding of oneself and one’s situation. The unfamiliar in the forest propels you to transform yourself into what you need to be for survival, so that sanctuary leads to strength and fulfilment. Shakespeare’s As You Like It needs little introduction as one of his most performed and most quotable musical comedies, set in the Forest of Arden, in an unnamed French Duchy. MADC chose wisely in having this as their annual production at San Anton Gardens, now in its 80th year.

From left: Gianni Selvaggi, Steffi Thake and Roberta Cefai in As You Like It. Photo: Sebio Aquilina

The already perfect backdrop for Shakespeare’s elaborate pastoral comedy was enhanced by Romualdo Moretti’s simple, yet effective set design, which functioned as an extension of the botanical garden’s existing mature trees within the open piazzetta before the palace steps. The skeletal twigs and branches were backlit by Chris Gatt’s expert lighting design, giving them an air of line and ink drawings in traditional printing.

The decidedly bohemian, hipster styling blended the court and country scenes into a seamless transition, while the great musical arrangements and performances by Mathias Mallia, Nathan Brimmer and Chris Dingli added to the modern twist, but harked back to Elizabethan theatre practises.

The show’s musical interludes were accompanied by Francesco Joseph Nicodeme’s choreography, elegant in its simplicity, which complimented director Philip Leone Ganado’s slick artistic direction. The outdoor elements made the balmy opening night all the more interesting, particularly in a production set in a naturalistic environment. The most memorable were the garden’s resident peacock calls, against whose wailing squawks the actors were forced to compete with – a humorous coincidence to which they handled very comfortably. 

This annual appointment with the Bard is an essential one in the theatrical calendar

In a play which relies heavily on cross-dressing and gender-bending, the play’s heroine Rosalind (Roberta Cefai) an her cousin and companion Celia (Steffi Thake), who flee to the forest of Arden after the usurping younger Duke Frederick takes umbrage with Rosalind, his niece and daughter to the ousted Duke Senior; both served as a great example of how strong Shakespeare’s female characters are. It is in this spirit, that I suppose Leone Ganado chose to transform Oliver De Boys into Olivia (Chiara Hyzler) from the onset, thus having the male protagonist Orlando (Gianni Selvaggi) cruelly mistreated by a domineering older sister, rather than a brother – a woman, who has, in contrast with the conventions at the time, inherited her father’s title and property as his first born.

Added to the fact that in the end a repentant and grateful Olivia, reconciles with Orlando and falls in love with Celia, posing in the forest as Aliena, makes for a naturalistic and uncomplicated lesbian coupling in a play which always had intimations of homoeroticism in Rosalind’s choice of alias – Ganymede.

This conveniently played up to Elizabethan theatre convention, where Orlando who is in love with Rosalind is challenged by Ganymede (Rosalind in disguise) to pretend to woo him posing as “Rosalind” and therefore supposedly rid himself of such an obsession; thus having a boy play a girl, disguised as a boy.

I was simply pleased that Hyzler’s acting strengths were put to good use, particularly when coupled with Thake’s – who has long had a knack for quick-witted comedy.

Relative newcomer Cefai shone in her role as Rosalind and was responsible for regulating the rhythm that paced Selvaggi’s steady performance. Rosalind as Ganymede unintentionally attracts the attentions of proud shepherdess Phoebe (Maxine Brimmer), who is in turn, fruitlessly pursued by Silvius (Rambert Attard). Brimmer who also lent her singing voice to a couple of the musical interludes, made a good stage comeback as the wilful Phoebe and was by far the stronger in her dyad with Attard. This extra layer of star-crossed lovers and mistaken identity added some levity to Rosalind and Celia’s adventures and enhanced the element of the love-chase.

Accompanying the two ladies, was Celia’s court clown, Touchstone (Jonathan Dunn) who provides comedy and equivocation in his exaggerated courtly manners and functions as a means of satirising the romantic aspect of the loving couple when he attempted to marry the rather dim Audrey (Becky D’Ugo). Dunn lived up to his best artist nomination and made a terrific Touchstone and was matched in his engaging performance by Chris Dingli, who played the jocose courtier Le Beau, in contrast with the morose Jacques in the forest. This character doubling showed off Dingli’s versatility and of course, introduced some of Shakespeare’s best known and most-quoted lines: All the world’s a stage and Jacques’s Seven Ages of Man.

Character doubling worked well with Stephen Oliver’s Duke Fredrick/Duke Senior and Michael Mangion’s Adam/Corin. Both Oliver’s parts and Mangion’s were heartfelt and enjoyable – robust in their character’s tonal quality.

At times accused of pandering to his audience’s preferences for happy endings, complex love-plots and musical comedies, in the aptly named As You Like It, Shakespeare still manages to create a play whose lyrical quality and generic and stylistic exploration is exceptionally rich. MADC managed to translate this well into a very enjoyable performance with several clever twists and tweaks from a directorial/artistic perspective. It was very apt that the closing scene, in which the multiple weddings take place, was accompanied by an unplanned burst of distant fireworks, reconfirming that this annual appointment with the Bard is an essential one in the theatrical calendar.

As You Like It is being staged at San Anton Gardens today, tomorrow and Sunday at 8.30pm.

Tickets may be obtained by calling ticket hotline 7777 6232, or sending an e-mail to bookings@madc.com.mt.