Despite its heavy dialogue, Northern Broadsides deliver an interesting interpretation of Shakespeare’s AS YOU LIKE IT with gender subversion at its heart.
2022 sees 30 years since the formation of the Northern Broadsides theatre company and their first foray in Shakespeare. To celebrate, they have chosen, in collaboration with the New Vic Theatre Company, a new staging of a very old play – AS YOU LIKE IT – taking the idea contained of cross dressing and crossing gender and expanding it.
The play itself has never been one of the strongest from the pen of Shakespeare and the plot is thinly spread. However, the use of clever casting and subtle hints at 21st century sexuality creates a richly layered interpretation for the gender fluid era that we live in. Who is what they seem within the amorous couples and the subject of their gaze and who is not?
The play is indeed dialogue heavy and if there would be one criticism it would be that theatre in-the-round often precludes sections of the audience from hearing every nuance. When one section laughs at a joke, the rest miss it and this does tend to interrupt the rhythm of the work.
That aside, there are some very clever touches; the washing line of clothes to signify the layers of the play, the use of clothes as scenery and the flight into the ethereal unstructured world of the forest of Arden where, yet again, nothing is what it seems, including the forest itself which is depicted with originality by coat stands.
A standout scene is fight night. Reminiscent of ITV’s Saturday wrestling on World of Sport, jester Touchstone, played with standout ability and costumes by Joe Morrow, comperes a wrestling match which sets in motion a train of events that culminates in the last scene of the play with the folk-dance wedding of four couples, some expected and some not.
Of the whole ensemble cast, special mention must go to Bailey Brook (Silvius/Charles), Ali Gadema (Duke Frederick/Duke Senior) and Reuben Johnson (Oliver) who command stage presence with their note-perfect interpretation of the script.
In a further departure from the original the role of the manservant, Orlando is changed into his nurse. The character, played with understated pathos by Claire Hackett, provides the audience with a quiet but powerful death. The only character portrayal that does not quite hit the mark is Le Beau, who as a courtier of Duke Frederick, does not have the same gravitas in this production and is portrayed more as a gossiping schoolgirl, although the role is played well by Gemma Dobson.
This production is a very interesting interpretation of the play with gender subversion at its heart. The concept of gender fluidity is played with both in the casting, the changing of characters and of course in the dialogue so nothing is as it seems. Perhaps that makes the play more relevant than ever in 2022?
AS YOU LIKE IT has come a long way since first seeing the light of day in 1599; as Touchstone reminds us in an ad lib, “He was way ahead of his time”.
AS YOU LIKE IT runs at The Lowry, Salford until 12 March 2022.
Gillian has a Masters degree in Film Theory and a background in music journalism. A veteran of gig promotion, she loves nothing more than a darkened room, a packet of Revels and a good play. By day she works in medico-legal administration, by night she escapes into theatre for relaxation.
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