The Publick Theatre's "As You Like It" is most definitely as I like it! Diego Arciniegas' Arcadian production of this most romantic of comedies is at least the equal of any "As You Like It" I've seen in celebrated venues around the USA and in England, and one of the best Shakespeare productions I've seen in Boston in decades. Thoroughly at home at last in Herter Park's refurbished outdoor amphitheater on the bank of the Charles River, the Publick company's acting is heartfelt as well as witty, the ensemble so strong that often the most effective moments are the reactions of silent characters. Shakespeare's lines are beautifully and intelligently spoken, right down to the smallest of parts, and the fact that small parts like Phoebe (Meaghan Boeing) Silvius (Ciaran Crawford) Corin (Billy Meleady) Duke Senior (Bern Budd) and three cameos assigned to Bill Salem are played brilliantly makes the second half of the show, which has a tendency to drag in less balanced productions, build to a supremely satisfying finale. Balance, pacing, warmth, wit, depth --- kudos to director Arciniegas, not just for having the ability to scope out a local cast this good, but for being the kind of director for whom talented performers are willing to work in illustration of the old adage "There are no small parts, just small actors".
The design choice of costuming from around 1820 seems inspired. A cult of romantic hyper sensibility much like the one in England in the early 19th century seems to have overtaken all but a few hard hearted holdouts both in the court of the usurping Duke Frederick (Steven Barkhimer), and in the Forest of Arden where his older brother, the rightful Duke, is living in exile with a few loyal followers. Otherwise prudent people are throwing caution to the winds and dashing madly wherever their hearts lead. Not just pampered courtiers and the prosperous upper middle classes, but simple country folk too, have abandoned self interest and gone all out for love -- conflicted obsessive hopeless idealizing love, at that. Shakespeare's source for the play, Thomas Lodge's romantic tale of "Rosalynde", is full of combat and death: but here all wicked plots are foiled and conscience softens the most villainous nature. The extremes the crossed lovers enjoy, the swift irresistible passions and the pleasurable pain of courting the unattainable -- these are matters for smiles, not railing or tears. ''As You Like It'' features many of the same dramatic situations favored by Shakespeare in his darkest plays, but here adversity -- a brother's hate, a friend's banishment, loss of identity -- is graciously turned to sweetness, conflict resolved in conversion, and against all probability a quadruple wedding ends all happily.''As You Like It'' indeed.
When -- years before the play opens -- Duke Frederick usurped his elder brother's rule, he decided to raise his niece Rosalind (Susanne Nitter ) along with his only heir, Celia (Sarah Newhouse), and over time the two girls have become as devoted as the closest of sisters. Much like the reigning Duke, one Sir Oliver de Boys (Derry Woodhouse) has deprived his brother -- in this case a younger brother, Orlando (Derek Stone Nelson) -- of his patrimony. Orlando challenges Charles (John Beresford), the Duke's champion wrestler, as a desperate means of bettering his fortunes. The fond cousins watch the match, and cheer Orlando on as he defeats Charles -- even though the champion was suborned by Oliver to kill the young man if he could. Rosalind and Orlando fall in love on the spot, although there is no opportunity for them to discover each other's feelings because the Duke takes a instant dislike to Orlando after he reveals himself to be one of the sons of a noble loyal to the Duke's exiled brother. The Duke has a sudden spasm of guilt and fear, and decides that his daughter would be better off without the companionship of the daughter of the brother he has wronged. He banishes Rosalind and forbids Celia to speak a word in her cousin's defense. But Celia's love is not limited to words. She insists that she will share her cousin's exile, and to avoid pursuers the girls travel disguised as middle class brother and sister. Romantic as all this is -- and very well played by all concerned, with all the conviction of tragedian -- the first real sign of comedy is when the ladies decide that they will take Touchstone (William Church) the Duke's motley fool, along with them for company. Preposterously, they expect that no one will notice. Everyone does notice Touchstone, of course, but the play is over before anyone makes an association between this odd creature in the Forest of Arden and the Duke's runaway daughter.
I may have seen as many as two dozen Touchstones, and among them were a well known comedian or two and a couple of superb actors. But I've never seen a Touchstone whose words suited his condition and position as well as William Church's do, nor any who was a better fit in the world of the play. All the sophisticated characters recognize Church's Touchstone as a professional Fool on sight, and all the country bumpkins think that he is some kind of a high status sophisticate -- especially Elizabeth Wrightman's buxom Audrey, who is so dazzled by Church's rich strangeness that she can scarcely keep her hands off him. Church launches into Touchstone's oft-tedious "lie seven times removed" speech with such speed and clarity that for once its interest exceeds its length. Elsewhere, Church resists the temptation to stoop to low comedy and creates humor that goes beyond mere historic interest. He plays a Fool who resembles some of the weirder standups on late night TV -- a Touchstone who seems to have some mental anomaly such as Asperger's syndrome, being brilliantly adept at certain forms of verbal behavior without quite understanding their social context. Jaques' diagnosis of "Is this not a rare fellow? He's as good at anything, and yet a fool" is spot-on, this time.
But then, Steven Berkhimer's Jaques is always spot-on. I've seen a slew of good Jaques-es -- it's a wonderful part, and attracts good actors like a magnet -- but none better than Barkhimer, and none who contributes more to the gathering triumph of the play. His is a genial Jaques, a questing and jesting philosopher who is a true student of human nature. His Jaques is as ready to appreciate as to sigh or scoff or chide, and his love for music is consonant with the underlying harmony of the play. But then, Barkhimer has supplied his character with music worth loving. As composer he is responsible for a score of breathtaking beauty, incorporating traditional Shakespearean music like Morley's "It Was a Lover and His Lass" but weaving all into a whole that is a continuing delight. Charles Parker arraigned the songs for the guitar he plays as the singer Amiens, and the cast members who sing along with him are so good that if they had announced that they were doing a concert after the show, I and the rest of the audience would gladly have stayed for it. (Maybe by next week they'll be selling CDs?)
Derek Stone Nelson's Orlando gets off to a rather spluttery start in the speech where he expounds why his brother Oliver is a disgraceful smutch on the family escutcheon, but once love for Rosalind replaces resentment as Orlando's motive, one could not wish a better hero. By the time he gets to Arden, Nelson is all earnest charm, eager to be instructed in the courtly ways his grudging brother has denied him and a good prospect for the Nonpareil of lovers. Susanne Nitter too is a bit of a late bloomer, uneasy in her position at the usurping Duke's court and only flowering into wit and wonder and willfulness when she takes on freedom and responsibility along with male clothing as Celia-disguised-as-Aliena's brother Ganymede. Her Rosalind's delight in finding herself exiled to the same forest where her dream guy has gone is wonderful to see, and once Nitter has challenged Orlando to employ Ganymede as a Rosalind substitute the actress spirals between glee and gloom at a dizzying pace. The audience, like Orlando, is distracted, fascinated, and won, without ever an opportunity to figure out who or what has won them.
Sarah Newhouse's Celia is so good that my only complaint about Act Five is that Celia has too few lines in it. As a character, Celia is a pattern card of goodness: the best person in a play where the proportion of good people to sinners is much higher than is usually found in a sampling of humanity. Yet miraculously a well acted Celia is never a bore. The secret is empathy, a quality Newhouse has in abundance. She listens with almost telepathic attention, and everything she hears and everyone she talks to changes her ever so slightly -- right up to the point where she meets Derry Woodhouse's Oliver, and he changes her utterly. Woodhouse is a magnetic presence, and he believes the six impossible things that happen to Oliver (almost all of them happen off stage). Woodhouse makes us believe in them, too, and accept the improbabilities that wind up the plot. Billy Meleady's salt-of-the-earth Corin is the sort of character who makes people smile before he opens his mouth, and Meleady makes the old saws that come out of the shepherd's mouth seem like fresh minted rural wisdom. Ciaran Crawford as Silvius and Meaghan Boeing as Phoebe play out a beautifully a bucolic version of courtly love: she the disdainful lady, he her abject knight. Though they are merely shepherds, their attitudes aren't a pale imitation of their betters -- they simply have acquired a refined and elaborate vocabulary to describe feelings that arise in a cottage as easily as in a castle. Playing these characters in a way that makes us care for them ignites Act Five, and "As You Like It's" final scene sparkles as brightly as fireworks over the Charles River on the Fourth of July.
ADDITIONAL NOTES FROM WILL STACKMAN
The Publick Theatre, after some 32 years of production on the abandoned site of the fabled Boston Shakespeare Festival, has mastered most of the problems associated with performing outdoors under the elements. Starting before sundown and letting the lights take over can be magical. The current lighting designer, Nathaniel Packard, has resisted the temptation to over-use gobos and instead tried to eliminate shadows. It was nice to see the action. Additional lighting poles have been installed; fund-raising for additional lights will commence after the season. Returning designer Janie E. Howland's set, which will be modified for the season's second show, "Hamlet", is airily abstract, allowing the lush greenery to frame her construction. Unfortunately, this openness also reveals the mundane backstage clutter, at least until the sun goes down, when a street lamp shows sodium-yellow through the trees. The ensemble has become much better at vocal projection towards the audience, so the lack of much acoustic reflection from the set is not generally a handicap. Still, the total effect is somewhat unfinished, perhaps reflecting budgetary constraints. The big expense this year was replacing rotting stage planking.
There was also great economy in the prop department. The hunters in the Forest of Arden had neither knives or bows. The shepherds were without their crooks. The only weapom was an inexplicable epee with which Orlando threatened the feast. And Elizabeth Wightman (Audrey the goatherd), deprived of her traditional turnip, could have used at least a bucket. The modern habit of avoiding props whenever possible -- and hats for that matter -- makes the action often too much like scene study. Hands are made for holding things as well as gesturing.
Special mention has to be made of Barkenheimer's new musical settings for the songs which punctuate this play. The vocal ensemble led by Parker (Amiens) helped add another dimension to the piece, rather than stopping the action for song, as is often the case.