As You Like it: quick links
As You Like It: Shakespeare’s verse is front and centre
We all know and love Ralph Fiennes the actor. Now we have a chance to see him as a stage director in a season at Bath’s majestic Theatre Royal, one of Britain’s oldest theatres. The Bard’s classic comedy As You Like It is the second in the series and the only one of the three productions where he is not on stage. (Grace Pervades and Small Hotel are the other two productions, both featuring Fiennes acting and directing).
In true Shakespearean style, this is a convoluted tale of family rivalries and the precarious pursuit of true love. Gloria Obianyo and Amber James take centre stage here as the cousins Rosalind and Celia. They are banished to the Forest of Arden for Rosalind’s love of Orlando, a relationship of which the family disapproves. Obianyo and James are so good together and a delight to watch. Charlie Rowe also shines as Orlando, full of youthful optimism and brimming with energy.
The comedy, and the drama, unfolds around them with the usual twists and turns. The plot can be confusing if you’re not familiar with the storyline and the conventions of ‘girl pretending to be a bloke pretending to be a girl’ but there’s a happy ending to look forward to and true love eventually prevails.
Costumed in modern dress by Fotini Dimou and with few props, this is all about the actors and the words. Shakespeare’s verse is front and centre, as it should be, complemented by the occasional folksy song by Ilan Eshkeri and Tim Wheeler.
The whole thing takes place on a deceptively simple set of translucent flats, designed by Bob Crowley, enhanced with subtle lighting (Peter Mumford) and delicate projections (Roland Horvath) to create warmth and change the ambience. As the wonderful Dame Harriet Walter says in Jacques’ famous ‘Seven Ages of Man’ monologue in Act 2, ‘All the world’s a stage’. Dylan Moran is so perfect as Touchstone, the Fool in the Court of Duke Frederick, that it feels like he’s not acting at all – Touchstone is Moran and Moran is Touchstone.
As You Like it: Stylish and engaging
This is a stylish and engaging production of As You Like It directed with the surety you would expect from Fiennes. He keeps a steady hand on proceedings, sometimes slowing the pace a little to let the words hang in the air so we can reflect, wonder and breathe. And it’s well worth a trip to Bath just to see Harriet Walter, a Shakespearean of the first order, deliver that magical monologue.
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As You Like It will be performed at Theatre Royal Bath until 6 September 2025.
