Review: As You Like It, Shakespeare’s Globe

It’s always a treat to go to the Globe. There’s a certain magic to this iconic wooden landmark on the Thames that transports you back to Elizabethan London, and the peace it seems to hold despite its location in the heart of the city.

I’m not familiar with As You Like It: it wasn’t on my English Literature syllabus at school, which is how many of us get to know Shakespeare’s works. Luckily, with a Globe production you’re in good hands. Even if you’ve never seen a Shakespeare play, this is a safe space to enter the world of Iambic Pentameter and rhyming couplets. In fact, As You Like It’s language is particularly enjoyable: it flows and bounces around the stage delightfully.

The story is one of disguises, exiled relatives, court versus pastoral life and, ultimately, love. It’s really fun. Despite the many academic ways to interpret the work of Shakespeare, sitting under the stars in a packed theatre and laughing at Touchstone, the court jester, is what it’s actually all about. The opening court scene portrays opulence and control, but it is once the two cousins, Rosalind and Celia, enter the Forest of Arden that the action really gets going. It’s a riotous spectacle throughout: whether the language baffles or delights, the physicality of the performers ensures that we’re all on the same page.

The building itself is so miraculous, and the stage so beautiful, that a Globe performance doesn’t require much set. However, the addition of large blank canvases works particularly well in this performance. As the cousins enter the forest, the canvases are slowly filled with charcoal trees. Leaves are added with paint rollers during the interval and blossom appears towards the romantic finale. It’s incredibly effective, and although perhaps simplistic, as Touchstone suggests at one point, it’s really beautiful.

The cast are fantastic: every single member is a delight to watch and there are no weak links. Particular highlights include Jonnie Broadbent, who is truly hilarious as Touchstone, brilliantly encapsulating the nature of the jester. He pushes the language deliciously, making it work for the audience who are lapping at his feet. At one point, the cast seem to corpse around him. Charlie Josephine plays Orlando with a cockney charm that is hard to resist, and Grace Oddie-James and Lola Shalam play the two cousins with a more understated humour than Touchstone, yet still have the audience in the palm of their hands.

In fact, audience participation is something the Globe does well, and this performance is no exception. A follically challenged audience member in the front row really embraces his role as a sheep, when selected by Colm Gormley, and Gormley handles this enthusiasm wonderfully.

As You Like It contains a large number of songs, but as the music itself was lost, it’s a fun challenge for productions to create instrumental accompaniment for the the lyrics. Musical Director Katie Richardson does a marvellous job, with folk inflections and raucous percussion. The music is fun and transports us from the court, to the forest, to the ethereal wedding scene at the end. The musicians steal the stage many times from their balcony, the drummers have so much energy and spirit, and you can’t help but grin.

In fact, you’ll find yourself grinning for much of this play. Throw aside any preconceptions about what Shakespeare is, or fears about the language, and let this company sweep you up into their chaotic, funny and joyful world.

Directed by Charlie Josephine and Sean Holmes

Music composed by Katie Richardson

Movement direction by Tamsin Hurtado Clarke

Fight and Intimacy direction by Bethan Clark

Costumes designed by Paul Wills

As You Like It plays at Shakespeare’s Gobe until 25 October.

https://www.shakespearesglobe.com/whats-on/as-you-like-it/