15 August – 6 September

In this comedy Shakespeare has fun with some of his pet themes. The contrasts between court and country with the potentially healing balm of nature are given a full airing. And then there are the young who are dizzyingly in love and equally in love with love. Then we have the claims of blood, no less for Orlando deprived of his rights by his brother, than for Edmund in King Lear deprived by the ‘curiosity of nations’ from his due.

One of the pitfalls of setting the play in modern day costume is that differences between town and country tend to be blurred. In fact the whole of the setting, costume and set had a grey tinge, which tended to blur the kind of distinctions Shakespeare was making. The blurring of the two spheres was evident in some of the characterizations. The sparkling repartee of Touchstone becomes more laboured, moving more towards the world-weariness of Jaques (Harriet Walter). Ms Walter gives us a university professor with a cynical eye for the lot of civilized society with a wearied yet hopeful quest for some kind of answer.

Gloria Obianyo’s Rosalind, once released from the constraints and oppression of life under her uncle’s care, became something of a bossy-boots. This tack meant that the breathless, excited, playful and barely controlled passion of the ‘in love’ Rosalind was compromised. The chemistry between the two lovers was never ignited. The ‘cure’ was thus not a repressed and diverted volcano, but a party game. Similarly there was no sense in Orlando of a confused attraction that struggled with the cultural conventions of dress and what meanings they held. A contemporary woman wearing a suit is not going to raise any eyebrows or lead to any kind of confusion today and for the most part Orlando (Charlie Rowe) takes Rosalind at face value.

Adam (Paul Jesson) the very model of decrepitude, manages the odd moment of bathos and is Shakespeare’s reminder that country life is not a panacea for all ills, particularly age! The ‘merrie England’ of Robin Hood legend is not for all seasons. On the other hand Amber James brought some zest to Celia and gave the impression that woodland life, once the hardships were dealt with, was a bit of a lark. Imogen Elliott provided a Phebe with a modern feel who one could imagine with a TikTok following for a, ‘life as a shepherdess’ blog.

I found the first half in particular to be static and slow. Whilst jettisoning some of the tools of theatre, movement and colour for example, in favour of a concentration on the language can bring insight, that is a strategy that requires skills not always on show in this production.

★★★☆☆  Graham Wyles,  27 August, 2025

Photography credit:  Marc Brenner