Through Sat 4/8

As You Like It, Shakespeare’s tale about nobles (and their sidekicks) wandering semi-lost in the Forest of Arden, seems a proper salute to spring. Directed by Charles Fee, this Great Lakes Theater production also allows for laughs, romance and satire aplenty.

To summarize a Shakespeare comedy in few words is near impossible. Let’s just say that relatives are at war with each other and as a result some escape to the countryside. In one case, brothers Oliver (an appropriately overbearing Jonathan Dyrud) and Orlando (a dashing athletic Nick Steen) argue about Orlando’s share of their late father’s estate. Oliver resists giving any to his brother. As a result, Orlando huffs away to dwell in the Forest of Arden.

As it turns out, due to another family quarrel, Orlando’s secret love interest, Rosalind (an unstoppable and witty Jodi Dominick), and her cousin, Celia (a charming and lovable Mandie Jenson), also flee to the same forest. Touchstone, the jester (a saucy Maggie Kettering), travels with them.

Rosalind poses as a man to hide her identity. When they meet, Orlando fails to see through her disguise. One can only conclude that Orlando is not too bright (evidenced by sappy poems to Rosalind he posts on trees). But he’s handsome and (no wonder) Rosalind befriends him, but only as a “bro.” Orlando confesses his love for Rosalind to his new friend. Keep in mind, all Rosalind does to disguise herself is to don men’s garments and alter her posture and gestures.

I know, as they say, the theater requires a willing suspension of disbelief, but still. Anyway, in the hands of Great Lakes’ nimble cast, all ends well.

The pastoral setting designed by Rick Martin, scenic and lighting designer, serves the show so well, it deserves to be listed as a character. The play’s main action takes place on a lovely rolling hillside (which literally gets rolled on at times), framed by a blue sky. There’s also a lone tree (handy for posting poems), stone fences (to sit on and jump over), falling autumn leaves, and fluffy snowflakes. All make for a joyous “forest.”

 

Songs also figure prominently, and while maybe we can’t call Shakespeare’s comedies Broadway musicals (yet), the exuberant and talented Great Lakes actors make the most of them. (I’d like it even better if there were more musical instruments (perhaps lutes) strummed to support the vocalists.

Other actors contribute a note of spunk. For example, M. A. Taylor as Adam, family servant and friend to Orlando, sits quietly on a wheelbarrow as the play opens. Even before he speaks, he demonstrates  how humor can be found in life as an elder. (We also see Taylor later as a shepherd and he’s funny there too,)

The feisty Duke Frederick (David Anthony Smith) enjoys the support of his “team” in the family fight. There’s the wrestler Charles (an agile and handsome Jerrell Williams) who tussles with Orlando, Le Beau (the personable Boe Wank), and Oliver’s servant Dennis (Adam Naaman Kirk). Other lords, who help propel the vocals as all cavort around the “fields,” include Danny Bó (who often leads the singers), Michael Burns, and James Alexander Rankin.

And let us not overlook another servant, Jaques (a philosophical  Lynn Robert Berg). Berg does justice to the great lines in the play about the seven ages of man.

But wait, there’s more — we also get a slapstick comedic love story not related to the court, but to the country. The shepherd Silvius (the ever-energetic Joe Wegner) chases his crush, the scornful country lass Phebe (an air-headed Ángela Utrera). But Phebe loves Rosalind’s man persona. (She also can’t see Rosalind is female, so maybe I shouldn’t judge Orlando so harshly.) Touchstone too seeks love and so chases Aubrey, a hapless goat-keeper (Burns). Burns shows good humor despite having to wear a rope around his neck as he’s led from place to place.

All ends happily, of course, with five giddy couples vowing love forever. (I’ve often wondered if the requirement that all comedies end in marriage is a bad omen for marriage since the Bard’s tragedies often involve troubled married couples.)

 

Bottom Line: Never mind quibbles — Great Lakes’ As You Like It is a vibrant production that celebrates fantasy and love and escape. It also reminds us that, happily, Clevelanders, too, enjoy both forests and meadows in our Metroparks. We are rich indeed.

[Written by Laura Kennelly, member: Cleveland Critics Circle, Music Critics Association of North America]

 

 

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