Review: Lots To Like In ChesShakes Production of Shakespeare's AS YOU LIKE IT

Rumor has it that William Shakespeare did NOT like AS YOU LIKE IT, but wrote it full of what audiences of the time DID like, which was love, upper class people in forests, merriment, clowning, witty banter, people in love triangles, and everybody getting married at the end. 

I hope that doesn’t spoil the whole show for you. 

If you’re familiar with the story, you can relax to enjoy the banter and bemusement imbued in the voices and bodies of the energetic, expressive performers who cavort on the magnificent stage. Actors in the Chesapeake Shakespeare Company ensemble are quick on their feet, perfect in their enunciation, and pull non-member performers into their circle so tightly that I’m unable to tell who are newcomers in the cast without checking the program. 

Director Ian Gallanar has an intriguing concept for the show, which highlights the timelessness of certain aspects of the story. The issue of class, the difference between the educated and the uneducated, the vituperative hatred of a person because of their background, the expectation that folk in a certain environment are expected to be savage and unyielding when in fact they may prove to be courteous and generous, are all uncomfortably relevant.

However, the script’s very nature is a patchwork of plots. Some ‘relationships’ seem forced, with little underlying motive. Scholarly sorts have analyzed certain of the characters and sequences to support theories of non-Shakespearian authorship of AS YOU LIKE IT, but that need not worry us as an audience. What does worry us as an audience is subplot upon subplot, seemingly unconnected, which we are expected to follow and emotionally invest. 

A dumbshow sets the scene, playing upon the stage in dramatic shadows. Someone has died. Someone is being forcibly removed from a public position. Someone else steps into his place. 

Ethan Larsen as elder brother Oliver De Boys and Gabriel Alejandro as younger Orlando De Boys, open the show at odds with one another. Larsen’s haughtiness is masterful as he plays the eldest, most powerful brother. His grimly gleeful plots of pettiness (and worse) are so convincing that his eventual transformation stretches believability. As Orlando, Alejandro has a wonderfully expressive face and nuanced vocals, enhancing the meaning of Shakespeare’s every line, which can be difficult to follow for those not versed in the language of The Bard. Orlando and the aged family retainer Adam, played convincingly by Scott Alan Small as querulous and frail, are evicted from the family home, forced to seek their fortunes elsewhere. 

Company members Gregory Burgess and Lauren Davis are also at odds, the former malevolently villainous as the usurping Duke Frederick, the latter his sassy, bon-mot abundant niece Rosalind. She, despondent at her father’s banishment by the usurping Duke, demonstrates her glib wit in opening remarks outlining her misery. Davis has excellent timing and sarcastic delivery, from the outset acquainting the audience with her verbal skills. When finally cheered somewhat by her bosom friend and cousin Celia, played very perky and excitable by Surasree Das, agrees with her cousin that they shall attend a sporting match featuring Charles, a boastful wrestler, played with athletic smarm by Jordan Brown. Orlando is his opponent; thus the lovers meet.

Thereafter, Orlando De Boys is ordered away by Duke Frederick. Frederick next banishes Rosalind, ostensibly concerned for his own daughter, Celia. Celia responds by joining Rosalind in her banishment. The court jester, Touchstone, accompanies them. Rosalind dons trousers to become Ganymede, and Celia is Ganymede’s sister, Aliena.

Ganymede and Aliena in the forest meet a shepherd, Corin, played by Jonas Connors-Grey, who wanders in and out of the action, commenting without involvement. Meanwhile, Duke Senior, played by Brendan Murray with a rich voice and magnanimous physicality, who, with his entourage- Amiens, played by Elana Michelle and Le Beau, played by Saraniya Tharmarajah- is as content in the forest as Rosalind was inconsolable in the city without him. Another of Duke Senior's courtiers, Jaques, peevishly played by Michael P. Sullivan, is sour about everything. He delivers well-known speeches from AS YOU LIKE IT in a melancholic and disparaging way, though purportedly envious of a court’s fool. 

The relationship between the two women is successfully developed, and throughout the play, they support one another rather than argue or compete. Surasree Das as Celia and Lauren Davis as Rosalind neither over- nor under- play the strong female friendship that forms the spine of the story. 

Shakespeare’s clown character, called Touchstone in AS YOU LIKE IT, played with arch fatuousness by Dylan Arredondo, accompanies Rosalind and Celia into the forest of Arden, then pursues his own agenda. Several other country folk- Lizzi Albert as Phebe, a goatherd who spurns the advances of the besotted Silvius, played by Jordan Brown;  Kate Forton as Audrey, the country girl who catches Touchstone’s eye; Jake Stibbe, playing a role usually played by Ty Velines, is William, Audrey’s suitor, outclassed by Touchstone’s witty city ways- enter the romantic scene. Arden is quickly awash in intrigues which have little to do with one another, until the final sequence, when a literal deus ex machina resolves every plot point with dizzying speed. Several of these plot point resolutions, including the moment when Ganymede is revealed to be Rosalind, are lost to me due to some unfortunate blocking. 

The set, designed by Kathryn Kawecki, is a marvel unto itself. It’s an intriguingly pale, multi-storied structure that serves as backdrop, entrance, projection screen and balcony. It’s nearly Neo-Classical, but angular and somehow a little urban grunge. 

Technical Director and Lighting Designer Dan O’Brien along with Projection Designer Mark Williams create extremely interesting effects for the show. The tiny lag between the live action and concurrent ‘live’ projections of one character enhances that character’s aura of menace and madness. Projections that play upon 180 degrees of the theater space immerse the audience in the action. Moving only a very few furniture pieces around onstage yet creating multiple environments embraces the technique used by Shakespeare himself to rely on the imagination of the audience to know whether we are at court, in the country, outdoors or in a bedchamber. Costume Designer Kristina Lambdin delivers beautiful 1940s-esque fashions for the city folk and colorful bohemian garb for those personages who reside in the forest. The show is visually marvelous, and I’m impressed by the spectacle presented with each scene change. 

The building that is now home to Chesapeake Shakespeare Company was built as a bank in 1885 and has been refitted as a theater. It’s beautiful inside. One of the impenetrable bank vaults is a kids’ room, a genius idea to prevent disturbing other theater-goers if your youngster gets squirmy. It has a monitor, so the attending adult can keep up with the show. I love that feature. I love how the gigantic space is used on three levels. I love the family bathroom, the warmth of the staff, the beer and wine bars. I love the color of the bench seats. I love that Shakespeare is being done in Baltimore, with Baltimore performers, Baltimore issues and Baltimore aesthetics. The melding of old and new at Chesapeake Shakespeare Company is a special treasure for all of us. Treat yourself to the splendor of the surroundings and the visually saturated spectacle of As You Like It. There’s plenty here that’s likable.

Run time is 2 hours twenty minutes, with a 15 minute intermission. 

 AS YOU LIKE IT plays at Chesapeake Shakespeare through October 22, 2023, Fridays and Saturdays at 8:00 PM, Sundays at 2:00 PM, Thursdays at 7:30 PM. There is also a 2:00 PM Matinee on Saturday, October 21 in addition to the 8:00 PM show. 

Ticket prices range from $30 to $70. Purchase tickets at the box office or online.

Chesapeake Shakespeare Company, 

7 South Calvert Street,  Baltimore, MD 21202

Box Office 410-244-8570 ; Box Office Hours are Tuesday- Friday 10AM-4PM

boxoffice@chesapeakeshakespeare.com

The following production, A CHRISTMAS CAROL, opens December 1, 2023

If you’d like an advance peek, see the online program.

Additional information, including public transit and parking.

Photo: Lauren Davis and Surasree Das in Chesapeake Shakespeare Company’s AS YOU LIKE IT.

Photo by Kiirstn Pagan Photography

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