As You Like It (RSC) ****

It’s always challenging to make things funny, especially older writing and especially Shakespeare. Thankfully, this production manages to make you laugh out loud throughout while still keeping you firmly rooted in the advancement of the plot. The pace is fast, which is good as if it were any slower it would be draining, especially in the first half.

      

There is a strong cast involved that make this show what it is, and it being a comedy as opposed to a tragedy means that it is different from the majority of the shows involved in the current London Season. The cast gave a good account of themselves and were without a doubt the highlight of the show. Katy Stephens was the centre of the story and matched her importance with her ability. She had a vibrant energy that was the well from which her whole performance sprung and it was wonderful to watch. She switched between princess and witty gentleman with a natural ease. Her sung epilogue was the icing on a particularly delectable cake as she managed to add character to a speech in a completely different way to how she had constructed her character throughout. A remarkable feat.

      

Her relationship with Celia (played by Mariah Gale) was very well done, their familiarity as almost sisters through a mischievous childhood being brought very well to the stage, even if Gale’s character is one of the weaker members of the cast. The problem that she suffered from primarily was misdirected lines. A couple of times she said something that didn’t strike true and it was as if she didn’t quite know what she was saying and to whom. Her character shone when bouncing off Katy Stephens but on her own merits felt a bit try-hard and unprepared.

      

Gale wasn’t the only person to suffer from this ailment, the efforts of Charles Aitken as Oliver were similarly marred; his opening scenes (also the opening scenes to the show) were uninspiring and lacking in strong enough characterisation to feel right. This was disappointing as from the off his younger brother Orlando, played by Jonjo O’Neill, was driven and a much stronger, more developed character. This continued throughout as he grew from a young man with much to prove to someone humbled by affection. His lamentations in the Forest of Arden were well played, his nature remaining playful in his sorrows and well matched to Katy Stephens when she appears as Ganymede.

      

The Forest was played up to, Touchstone coming into his own as Richard Katz gave one of the best performances, alongside Katy Stephens. His humour was both witty and physical and both were just fantastically good fun. His falling over when ensnared by the brambles was as funny as his speedy ramblings. Credit must be given for his understanding of the lines. Of everyone I would say he understood best what he was saying, which must have taken a lot of work considering the density of what he had to say. His comedy was complimented well by Forbes Masson as Jaques, strolling through every now and again with his melancholy vim and guitar. There was a heavy musical element to the show that worked well, the guitar and strangely enchanting voice offered by Masson being the lead of the motley pack and was thoroughly enjoyable.

      

The smaller roles were also played well. The youthful energy of the body of the cast was offset well by the older roles, most notably the powerful and authoritative Sandy Neilson as Duke Frederick. His stern nature opposed the folly of youth very well. In almost direct opposition to this, the community of the forest was well acted with the likes of Christine Entwisle, Sophie Russell and James Tucker giving character to the forest that contrasted the court of the first half very well indeed.

      

It was clear in the interval that an effort had been made to immerse you in the comedic world of the play. The auditorium was suddenly full to bursting with cardboard sheets with Orlando’s love for Rosalind scrawled all over them. There was action on stage as well, with Richard Katz and Geoffrey Freshwater acting out the skinning of a rabbit. It was funny as well as a good introduction to the second half. What it did do very well was bring the relaxation of the interval into the second act, which in turn allowed it to flow more readily than the first half that had begun to slump towards the end.

      

The set was well constructed with trap doors and a completely reducible back wall that revealed the forest from the blankness that had been the court. It was basic but worked well and when the various scrawls of Orlando were introduced in the interval we also saw touches of green added to the previous brown foliage, which was a good touch, echoing the life that was about to be brought to the show.

      

All in all, there was very little that stopped this becoming a five-star show. The apparent lack of groundwork being done by a couple of the actors and a growing slump towards the end of the first half that appeared to coincide with a lack of Katy Stephens and Richard Katz were the only things that let the side down. 

Written by William Shakespeare; Directed by Michael Boyd; at the Roundhouse Theatre; Starring Katy Stephens, Richard Katz, Forbes Masson, Jonjo O'Neill, Mariah Gale, Sandy Neilson, Geoffrey Freshwater; Runs from 13 Jan 2011 to 05 Feb 2011 as part of the RSC London Season.

http://www.roundhouse.org.uk/rsc-london-season

John Ord (17/01/2011)

Romeo and Juliet (RSC) ***

Having seen a lot of RSC productions in Stratford-upon-Avon and being awed by the quality (with the necessary exceptions) of the overall body of shows I had high hopes coming to see one in London. I was immediately impressed by the Roundhouse theatre space that is, in essence, a re-working of the RSC Swan theatre; it’s thrust stage giving the company a great deal of space to work with. They set about doing so with an energetic dynamism from the offset, with a wonderfully dramatic and precisely choreographed fight scene that looked like a ridiculous amount of fun. I mean, seriously, fire from the ground, swords and chains and everything. Lucky buggers.

      

The set was a wonderful servant to the show, giving a number of levels that were used excellently as well as the various entrances and exits. The lighting worked well with the set, casting dark shadows across the stage and giving the whole show a very dark and brooding atmosphere throughout. I felt that it could have been a bit lighter, with much of the lighting making it difficult to make out the action in much the same way as the music in the party scene was so loud that the actors forced to shout over it were hardly audible at all. Both the music and the lighting, however, were strong elements of the show. I especially enjoyed the music and dance in the party scene as well as the religious backing music to the Friar’s cell.

      

The acting bears up against scrutiny as well. Sam Troughton makes a surprisingly strong Romeo. With the character commonly being associated with a strong and assertive character he takes a more emotional angle and this comes across well. He strikes the tension in his character with such a desperate approach that we understand the lost character in his anguish. He connects the character more than just being the poster boy and does a very impressive job. Juliet, however, could have been stronger. A couple of times her speech felt directionless, as if she’d forgotten what the words actually meant. Her character seemed a bit shallow almost, as if she hadn’t fully understood all that was happening until her dramatic final scenes.

      

The way in which Jonjo O’Neill tried to make Mercutio comedic must be commended but it did appear as if he was trying to make something out of nothing and it felt like he was forcing a circle into a square hole. His overly outrageous mimes were certainly entertaining and gave him a defined character but I remain unconvinced by the decision to play him that way.

      

The best performance of the show has to be Noma Dumezweni. Her nurse had a character more fully formed than the rest of the cast with mannerisms and a living presence that was certainly missing in the rest of the supporting cast. She had moments where she dominated the stage and I thoroughly enjoyed her assured performance.

     

The show at this point in the review has lots of positive points. However, it was also riddled with odd directorial decisions that dragged it down. Opening with Romeo entering what must have been a modern-day monastery with a camera and being approached by a tour guide seemed to indicate that it would be a modern dress production. The modern dress, however, only continued for the title roles. This meant that while most people were marching around with doublets, capes and tights you had Romeo in a hidden jacket on a bike (yes, a bike) at times and Juliet in an arty shirt and converse shoes. I was struggling with this decision enough before all the characters entered at the death in modern dress, inexplicably changing from their doublets to leather jackets, jeans and the like. Even now I don’t understand exactly what the intention was behind this and how or why it was thought to be plausible.

      

Another odd decision was to add song into the final scenes. Without any warning and with no justification I can think of Balthasar begins to sing some of his lines in a very stylistic way that had no previous part in the show. The result was a jarring halt in the flow as I tried to work out why he was singing and as everybody seemed to lose what he was actually saying. 

      

This was surprising as the rest of the show looked amazing. The non-modern costumes were good, as were the array of props and set that were brought on at various points. The masks for the party scene (which was probably one of the best scenes in the show) deserve special mention for both their functionality and their symbolism. The blocking was a display of confident and technically brilliant direction, the characters moving in patterns and shapes that were delightful to watch, however the more fundamental decisions on the stylistic approach to the show let Rupert Goold’s contribution down.

      

The show was not badly acted, in fact much the opposite, but the decisions to incorporate modern dress and to throw in stylistic odds and ends cluttered the show with unneeded images that hampered its ability to really connect with the audience. The actors do a good job in a show still worth seeing despite these artistic upsets.

Written by William Shakespeare; Directed by Rupert Goold; at the Roundhouse Theatre; Starring Sam Troughton, Mariah Gale, Noma Dumezweni, Jonjo O'Neill, Forbes Masson, Oliver Ryan, Richard Katz; runs from 30 November 2010 - 01 January 2011 as part of the RSC London Season.

http://www.roundhouse.org.uk/whats-on/productions/rsc-romeo-and-juliet

John Ord (02/12/2010)