05/04/2014

As You Like It

Belvoir, 2011


Photo by Heidrun Löhr for Belvoir.
Characterised by a theatrical delight and a rare whimsy which is so often missing in modern interpretations of Shakespeare, let alone his comedies, Eamon Flack’s As You Like It delighted in the language, in the words, the rhythms, the theatrical possibilities inherently written into one of Shakespeare’s greatest tour de force’s of theatrical disguise. Switching the genders of characters made no difference to the text, and there was a rambunctious playfulness which even the staunchest purists would’ve found hard to deny or ignore. When the cast appeared as sheep during the interval, the theatrical illusion of a pastoral idyll was complete. The perfect play for summer, it was everything modern Shakespeare should be: smart, funny, sexy, intelligent, respectful, clever, and above all, thoroughly Shakespearean.