Worcester Shakespeare Company "as you Like It" a Gem
The Stow [MA.] Independent, August 10, 2016, p. 5
Contributed by George E. Clark Photo Courtesy of George E. Clark
Overflowing with international and internationally-trained talent, the Worcester Shakespeare Company brings a gift of a production, As You Like It, to its open-air stage 43 minutes from the center of Stow in the lovely Blackstone Valley mill village of Whitinsville in the town of Northbridge.
Shakespeare’s As You Like It is a gender-bending play, an exploration of true love tempered by thought-provoking wit. It takes place as its upper-crust characters are exiled to the woods to live like Robin Hood. At the center of this four-and-a-half-couple romance is Rosalind, played here by vibrant Brit Allie Croker. The action starts abruptly. Rosalind only has time to meet and fall gobsmacked in love with a young man, Orlando, before the two are separately exiled to the forest. Both are victims of family squabbles and deadly politics in the dukedom—or “duchessdom”—as both dueling dukes are played here by women. Rosalind and her cousin and best friend Celia (Briana Lynn Naughton) disguise themselves so they will not be harassed in their exiled travels. Rosalind becomes the handsome but suspiciously beardless young man, Ganymede, and Celia her poor older relative, Aliena.
Meanwhile, Orlando, who is smitten with Rosalind in return, litters the forest with sincere but sincerely awful love poetry, guaranteeing that Rosalind/Ganymede is aware of his presence and ready to test his love. Rosalind, undetected as Ganymede, offers Orlando to pretend to be Rosalind, and he/she alternately swoons over, criticizes, coaches, and teases her lover in one of the meatiest comic roles ever written in English. Croker, an embodiment of kinetic energy, snap snap snaps her lines like green kindling as she builds the play’s bonfire of love. And as love transforms the characters in the play, Croker also seems aptly transformed into a lanky young man as Ganymede.
The part of Orlando is ably spoken by local actor Ryan Cashman. The crux of the play’s comedy happens as the straight Orlando grows in friendship and love for Ganymede, a man (he supposes) at the same time that he pines for Rosalind. The play is intended to intentionally examine the flexibility of sexuality, as the in classical mythology Ganymede is the fetching male cup-bearer and lover of Zeus. This viewer wishes that Cashman’s Orlando lit up around Rosalind in Ganymede’s male form in the same way that he does for Rosalind as herself, a woman. The eternal hiccups of love and sexuality need to be given room to become more fully manifest in this production, and Mr. Cushman seems primed to grow into the role as the summer progresses.
In addition to Croker, another standout is the voice of musical director and composer Emma Romasco. As the shepherd Phebe, she sings her own melodies to lyrics found in the play.
Jaques, the “half” of the four-and-a-half couples, is the dill pickle barrel of this feast, providing just enough savory and world-weary insight to counterbalance its sweetness and effervescence. Chris JM Maloney plays Jaques with the presence of Belushi recovering from a bender, and New England will be blessed to see him in future productions.
The production takes place waterside on a simple but warm-feeling set located in the courtyard of a multi-use complex just off the street. Using authentic timber-frame construction and design, the brainchild of company paterfamilias and artistic director Mel Cobb, Worcester Shakespeare Company takes part in a growing movement of Shakespearian authenticity. From behemoths like The Globe in London to regional theaters like Blackfriars in Staunton, Virgina, companies such as WSC allow audiences to see Shakespeare as Shakespeare envisioned it, with lively audience interaction and the unamplified strong voices of the actors.
Despite the overall success of Annie Pluto’s direction, a few key distractions bear mentioning. Ganymede’s costume, a rustic knee-length tunic, reads to modern audiences as a baggy shift dress, undermining the comedy around Rosalind in the guise of a man. While the otherwise lovely design of period costume is in the spirit of the period set, and effective, there is no necessary reason to use it. This reviewer wondered if track pants and Air Jordans would have better communicated “city boy in the woods” to today’s theatergoers, especially as SUV’s and minivans drive past behind the stage, piercing the period theme in any case. At least some Elizabethan doublet pants would have gotten the essential message across.
The choice of slow period instrumental music for the prelude, intermission, and postlude also seems a mistake, in contrast to the wit and vibrancy of the play. Something more up-tempo, if anachronistic (A minuet? Some Mos Def?). If sticking to period convention, perhaps a madrigal.
The play concludes with a sweet and smoochy epilogue delivered saucily by Ms. Croker. From the “what was the director thinking” department, Ms. Pluto follows this final bit of sparkle and initial applause with a long, slow, formal pattern dance. The audience doesn’t know whether to stay or to go, to clap or to listen.
Despite these flaws, the production is a gem very much worth the trip to Northbridge. Onsite parking is easy. Snacks and soft drinks are available for purchase, and retention of your ticket allows you a ten dollar discount on the company’s indoor and air conditioned production of King Lear, which plays in rotation with As You Like It.
___
As You Like It. Worcester Shakespeare Company through August 21. 60 Douglas Road, Whitinsville, MA. Tickets online or at the door. $20. $15 students and seniors. Children under twelve free with adult.
Contributed by George E. Clark Photo Courtesy of George E. Clark
Overflowing with international and internationally-trained talent, the Worcester Shakespeare Company brings a gift of a production, As You Like It, to its open-air stage 43 minutes from the center of Stow in the lovely Blackstone Valley mill village of Whitinsville in the town of Northbridge.
Shakespeare’s As You Like It is a gender-bending play, an exploration of true love tempered by thought-provoking wit. It takes place as its upper-crust characters are exiled to the woods to live like Robin Hood. At the center of this four-and-a-half-couple romance is Rosalind, played here by vibrant Brit Allie Croker. The action starts abruptly. Rosalind only has time to meet and fall gobsmacked in love with a young man, Orlando, before the two are separately exiled to the forest. Both are victims of family squabbles and deadly politics in the dukedom—or “duchessdom”—as both dueling dukes are played here by women. Rosalind and her cousin and best friend Celia (Briana Lynn Naughton) disguise themselves so they will not be harassed in their exiled travels. Rosalind becomes the handsome but suspiciously beardless young man, Ganymede, and Celia her poor older relative, Aliena.
Meanwhile, Orlando, who is smitten with Rosalind in return, litters the forest with sincere but sincerely awful love poetry, guaranteeing that Rosalind/Ganymede is aware of his presence and ready to test his love. Rosalind, undetected as Ganymede, offers Orlando to pretend to be Rosalind, and he/she alternately swoons over, criticizes, coaches, and teases her lover in one of the meatiest comic roles ever written in English. Croker, an embodiment of kinetic energy, snap snap snaps her lines like green kindling as she builds the play’s bonfire of love. And as love transforms the characters in the play, Croker also seems aptly transformed into a lanky young man as Ganymede.
The part of Orlando is ably spoken by local actor Ryan Cashman. The crux of the play’s comedy happens as the straight Orlando grows in friendship and love for Ganymede, a man (he supposes) at the same time that he pines for Rosalind. The play is intended to intentionally examine the flexibility of sexuality, as the in classical mythology Ganymede is the fetching male cup-bearer and lover of Zeus. This viewer wishes that Cashman’s Orlando lit up around Rosalind in Ganymede’s male form in the same way that he does for Rosalind as herself, a woman. The eternal hiccups of love and sexuality need to be given room to become more fully manifest in this production, and Mr. Cushman seems primed to grow into the role as the summer progresses.
In addition to Croker, another standout is the voice of musical director and composer Emma Romasco. As the shepherd Phebe, she sings her own melodies to lyrics found in the play.
Jaques, the “half” of the four-and-a-half couples, is the dill pickle barrel of this feast, providing just enough savory and world-weary insight to counterbalance its sweetness and effervescence. Chris JM Maloney plays Jaques with the presence of Belushi recovering from a bender, and New England will be blessed to see him in future productions.
The production takes place waterside on a simple but warm-feeling set located in the courtyard of a multi-use complex just off the street. Using authentic timber-frame construction and design, the brainchild of company paterfamilias and artistic director Mel Cobb, Worcester Shakespeare Company takes part in a growing movement of Shakespearian authenticity. From behemoths like The Globe in London to regional theaters like Blackfriars in Staunton, Virgina, companies such as WSC allow audiences to see Shakespeare as Shakespeare envisioned it, with lively audience interaction and the unamplified strong voices of the actors.
Despite the overall success of Annie Pluto’s direction, a few key distractions bear mentioning. Ganymede’s costume, a rustic knee-length tunic, reads to modern audiences as a baggy shift dress, undermining the comedy around Rosalind in the guise of a man. While the otherwise lovely design of period costume is in the spirit of the period set, and effective, there is no necessary reason to use it. This reviewer wondered if track pants and Air Jordans would have better communicated “city boy in the woods” to today’s theatergoers, especially as SUV’s and minivans drive past behind the stage, piercing the period theme in any case. At least some Elizabethan doublet pants would have gotten the essential message across.
The choice of slow period instrumental music for the prelude, intermission, and postlude also seems a mistake, in contrast to the wit and vibrancy of the play. Something more up-tempo, if anachronistic (A minuet? Some Mos Def?). If sticking to period convention, perhaps a madrigal.
The play concludes with a sweet and smoochy epilogue delivered saucily by Ms. Croker. From the “what was the director thinking” department, Ms. Pluto follows this final bit of sparkle and initial applause with a long, slow, formal pattern dance. The audience doesn’t know whether to stay or to go, to clap or to listen.
Despite these flaws, the production is a gem very much worth the trip to Northbridge. Onsite parking is easy. Snacks and soft drinks are available for purchase, and retention of your ticket allows you a ten dollar discount on the company’s indoor and air conditioned production of King Lear, which plays in rotation with As You Like It.
___
As You Like It. Worcester Shakespeare Company through August 21. 60 Douglas Road, Whitinsville, MA. Tickets online or at the door. $20. $15 students and seniors. Children under twelve free with adult.