The Independent
Shakespeare Company always impresses me. On August 23, I went to see the
group’s production of As You Like It.
It was a completely enjoyable experience, and I was laughing out loud through
quite a lot of it. When this play is done right, it is a lot of fun. And The
Independent Shakespeare Company does it right. Sure, there are a couple of
inherent weaknesses in the play, mainly Duke Frederick’s sudden and convenient
religious conversion at the end. But that’s of little matter, and by the time
it happens, we’re ready to accept it. The entire cast is strong, but the two
stand-outs for me are Melissa Chalsma as Rosalind and Luis Galindo as Jacques. Sean
Pritchett also does a wonderful job as Orlando. Joseph Culliton plays both Duke
Frederick and the banished Duke Senior, calling for a few very quick changes, and
providing a few laughs in the process – mostly astonished laughter at how
quickly he was able to change.
They set up the sort
of sibling rivalry between Orlando and Oliver right away, but having Oliver
kick over a bucket of apples while Orlando is sweeping up. That leads directly
to Orlando’s opening speech to Adam. On
“my education,” he indicates his
broom.
The production uses
somewhat contemporary clothing. For example, the wrestler wears a grey hooded
sweatshirt with a zipper down the front. Mixed with the modern clothing are
several timeless pieces. Rosalind and Celia are both in red dresses when we
first meet them. Touchstone wears a traditional jester hat.
Orlando is masked for
his wrestling match with just a strip of cloth across his face, but with holes
for the eyes, of course. Charles wears a gold wrestling costume with a silver
lightning bolt. At the beginning of each round, men flock around the wrestlers,
so we actually see very little of the match. This totally works, however, and
is done in such a way that is quite funny.
Le Beau’s line is
changed in this production when Orlando asks him which girl is the Duke’s
daughter. He says “the brunette is his
daughter,” rather than “the taller is
his daughter.”
On Rosalind’s “my child’s father,” she picks up
Orlando’s shirt. She then uses it when she gets the idea of dressing as a man
(though she doesn’t actually wear it when dressed as Ganymede). The cast is
able to often make good use out of certain wardrobe pieces. Particularly David
Melville as Touchstone who, when threatening William, turns his fool’s cap into
two horns to frighten him. There’s more play a bit later with Touchstone’s hat
with Audrey. And when Jacques says that he wants a motley coat, he takes off
his jacket and turns it inside out, and puts it back on.
There are a few
songs in this production, and the singer and instruments are actually miked, so
everything is audible. There is some silliness, like a running gag of
Touchstone getting poo on his shoe out in the country. He breaks out of the
text for a moment and wipes it with a tissue, which he then hands to an
audience member. The second time, he hands it to the same audience member. I’ve
always had mixed feelings about straying from the text. But of course that
stuff always gets a laugh from many of the audience members. For example, Touchstone,
in explaining “civit” to the
shepherd (and to the audience), says, “Google it.” He later
makes a joke about the bad quartos, which actually was quite funny.
As I said, Luis
Galindo does a great job as Jacques. When he delivers the famous speech, he
says, “All the world’s a stage” as if
it just occurred to him, which is great. He really gave new life to this famous
speech. And at the end, on “sans
everything,” he points sadly at Adam, who is carried in at that moment. It’s
perfect and heartbreaking.
The play has one intermission,
which comes after Orlando agrees to Rosalind’s plan to woo her (Act III Scene
ii). The second act begins with Act III Scene iii, the scene with Touchstone
and Audrey, with Jacques delivering his lines from the audience.
If you haven’t yet
seen this production, you have two more chances – August 29th and September 1st.
I highly recommend attending one of those performances if it is at possible for
you to do so.
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