Review: AS YOU LIKE IT at Canadian Stage's High Park Amphitheatre

Banishment, unassailable friendships, brotherly hate, love at first sight, philosophy, a magical forest, and a witty young woman in disguise. These classic Shakespearean elements and more await audiences of Canadian Stage's Dream in High Park production of AS YOU LIKE IT, running in the High Park Amphitheatre until September 4.

In Shakespeare's comedy, heroine Rosalind's father, Duke Senior (Ken Hall), has been banished by his jealous brother Frederick (also Hall). Rosalind (Bren Eastcott) herself is allowed to live in court to keep her cousin Celia (Astrid Atherly), with whom she shares a sisterly bond, company. Orlando (Paolo Santalucia) also has a conniving brother, Oliver (Sean DeSouza-Coelho), who has kept most of Orlando's monetary trust and educational opportunities away from him and now seeks his death.

Rosalind and Orlando catch each other's eye and heart - right before the usurping ruler banishes her as well. Celia, Rosalind, the fool Touchstone (Eric Woolfe) and Orlando all wind up fleeing into the forest of Arden, where Celia and Rosalind take new identities and they all encounter the rightful Duke and his retinue. Love, naturally, ensues.

Director Anand Rajaram's edited script successfully cuts the show down to a leaner two hours (not the advertised 90 minutes), while including most of the subplots. Various lines are swapped between characters (for example, Tombstone complains about the unbearable journey, rather than Celia), which may trip up a scholar or two, but the play still feels cohesive.

The most arresting text swap reassigns the iconic "Seven Ages of Man" speech from the Duke's melancholy follower, Jacques (Dylan Roberts), to Orlando's steadfast elderly servant, Eve (in the original, Adam). As the only character who has actually lived all the ages about which she speaks, Maja Ardal as Eve imbues the monologue with a gravitas and wistfulness that turns a potentially tired, pontificating speech into something it's possible to hear anew. It's a bold choice that pays off, becoming the heart of the play. Eve's increase in importance is also reflected in her memories being used as the show's framing device, rather than Rosalind's traditional epilogue; the reasoning here is a little less clear.

I would have loved to see more bold, thoughtful choices like Eve's monologue, which make the production shine. Other concepts are muddier, which leads to an occasional lack of clarity in concept. While Tombstone's exuberant Brooklyn accent is entertaining, a Shakespearean fool by way of Gilbert Gottfried (and even appropriate in showing his status as that of an outsider and therefore outside eye to the infighting), it has diminishing returns as a comic device when several minor characters also use variations on it in quick succession without specific reasoning. When used too many times, it also runs the risk of substituting a funny affectation for trust in the humour of the text and plot.

In this vein, the production is genuinely funny and interesting when it shows heart or depth, less so when it goes for broader humour. For example, Ken Hall (double-cast as both the Duke and his nefarious brother) commands the stage well as the evil usurper who overcompensates due to self-consciousness over his lack of legitimacy; his assurance to his daughter that her appeal will increase upon discarding her best friend is chilling. He's let down, though, with the direction for kindhearted Duke Senior. His welcome flashes of warm decency and sincerity that could ground the overall wackiness of the situation are overshadowed by an airheaded hippie persona and one deeply confusing, interminable fart joke.

That doesn't mean there isn't a lot of fun to be had here, especially with Shadowland Theatre's production design, creating an exaggerated aesthetic plucked straight from the garden. The floral costumes are bright and appealing, casting the good Duke's retinue in pink and his evil brother's in purple, and crowning characters in headdresses that range from lilies to fiddleheads. The Duke's striking pink litter, in which he's carried, is also a nice touch - if a little precarious. The designs make much of the mystery of the forest, highlighting both its magic and its dangers, as curious beasts make appearances between scene changes to remind us that this is a wild place.

As well, since this is a play where much of the climactic action is told to us rather than shown, an imaginative puppet show illustrating one character's monologue about a lion attack keeps things lively. It's all accompanied by music from Serena Ryder, Kiran Ahluwalia, Lacey Hill, and Maryem Toller; no breakout hits, but the score effectively evokes a contemplative, sober mood.

Most importantly, while the direction isn't always clear, the meaning of the text is; the actors show a solid understanding of and facility with the language, which is where Rajaram succeeds in his goal of accessibility. Rosalind and Orlando as the central pair have solid chemistry, Eastcott displaying both vulnerability and wicked humour, with her protest that the new Duke's suspicion of her alone does not make her guilty of treason hitting home. Santalucia's modest bravery contrasts well with his wide-mouthed expression of being struck dumb every time he realizes he's in Rosalind's presence. The playful ribbing in the friendship between Rosalind and Celia made me wish that Atherly had more to do.

AS YOU LIKE IT invites us to imagine a world that is what we want it to be, where things work out in the end. While perfection is a dream, a packed amphitheatre full of happy people watching a show together seems pretty ideal.

Photo of Bren Eastcott and Paolo Santalucia by Dahlia Katz

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