Arizona State University Theatre Department's As You Like It at The Galvin Playhouse
(out of 
)Mark S.P. Turvin
(home office) (602) 912-0117
I can be reached for comment via e-mail at: mspt@goldfishpublishers.com
Reviewed 11/21/98
(out of )I love the timelessness of William Shakespeare's work as much as the next reviewer, and I am constantly surprised and pleased when directors find ways to enhance and enliven already wonderful works. Stretching is great, since Shakespeare is so flexible, and even when one line is used to define such odd and exhilarating choices, I am impressed. Such was the case with the ASU production of Macbeth two seasons ago, when the line "blasted heath" was taken with a post-apocalyptic meaning, giving the show a Mad Max twist that I enjoyed.
Unfortunately, Director David Vining has taken one of Shakespeare's
cutest and most balanced comedies, As You Like It,
and, without a discernible stitch of textual or conceptual backing,
set the play in a time long ago, and in a galaxy far, far away.
That's right, following the Sci-Fi adventure that was Macbeth, comes the sequel in the style
of Star Wars, with a court right out of the Empire, and
a forest of Arden that is even more inexplicably out of The
Land That Time Forgot, if it had been set in the flower-child
'60s rather than prehistoric times. And, as is the case with most
sequels, this one has no possible reason for its creation. I'm
not saying that we should head back to the days of period Shakespeare,
but a hippie-fied Star Wars concept is about as helpful
to the text and audience as a nude Hamlet. Yes, you can
do it that way, but WHY?
Let it also be known that the concept is not the only thing that
drags this production into the dark side of the Force: almost
all of the cast is guilty of such gaffes as slurred diction and
odd character choices. The point of producing Shakespeare in an
education setting, as far as I can tell, is to give students a
chance to be classically trained in vocalization and to slip inside
the wonderful characters that populate the Bard's various worlds.
As far as I am able to tell about ASU's agenda, the only reason
seems to be to allow their graduates to list a Shakespeare play
on their resumes. If any diction training was given to this cast,
nearly none showed during the performance.
Shakespeare's delightful comedy centers on the daughter of a deposed
Duke, Rosalind, and her reciprocated love of the strapping young
poet/wrestler, Orlando. When she is banished to the Forest of
Arden by her usurping uncle, she grabs her cousin and fool and
dons the garb of a pageboy so as to be unmolested in the vast,
wild forest. Orlando is also sent away, where he leaves longing
love poems on the trees, and then befriends the masked Rosalind,
who has him pretend that she is herself, so as to allow him to
learn to woo her correctly. Rosalind is one of Shakespeare's best,
brightest, and wittiest comedic heroines, and the banter he writes
is a joy to the ear.
Along comes Mr. Vining, who has decided that the evil court should
be similar to the Empire of the Star Wars saga, right down
to the use of lucite swords with laser pointers embedded within.
Add to this an absolutely silly sequence of "transportation,"
where characters go through some sort of Stargate to arrive at
the world of Arden, and discover that the former court seems to
have become a groovy, way-out commune bent on performing madrigals
in the style of Peter, Paul and Mary. To call these choices and
their implementation amateurish and high-school is an insult to
amateurs and high schools.
The worst offender of the cast is Bree Williams, who turns
the adorable character of Rosalind into a giddy ninny. True, this
is a character in love, but anyone this inane is indescribably
unattractive. Rather than underplaying and giving Rosalind a credibility,
she overplays and titters incessantly, making one of Shakespere's
best creations an annoying prepubescent. Questionable is the performance
of Richard Perez as Jacques, who turns his character into
a mooning beat poet. This is a performance that ultimately reflects
his line, "Sans everything." The rest of the cast, save
for two exceptions, are either unimpressive, or not even worth
mentioning in the first place.
Two actors who do bear mentioning, though, are Joel Birch
as Rosalind's love, Orlando, and Greg London as the fool,
Touchstone. Mr. Birch started off slowly, but by his "teleportation"
to the Forest of Arden, rises above the cast in diction and characterization.
Mr. London is, far and away, the best of the cast, and would stand
out even in a professional company. His voice is clear, his diction
impeccable, and his timing is exquisite. Perhaps he is too good
for this production, for when he is onstage, he serves to emphasize
all that is wrong with the rest of the show.
In creating Mr. Vining's vision of As You Like It:
The Space Comedy, Scenic Designer Gage Williams
has given us next-to-nothing. Metal piping represents the court,
a patch of sand and colored balls hanging on wires represent the
forest, making this more of a B-movie than an epic. Marc Riske's
lighting didn't help much, and was even laughable during the pathetic
"transporter" sequence. Even worse was Tiia Torchia's
costumes, which were either hideous (for the court sequence),
or cheap-looking (for the flowerchildren of Arden), which undermined
what little credibility this show could have had. At least David
Barker's fight sequences were well-staged.
ASU
has an obligation, first and foremost, to education. If the major
errors of this production had been less involving this obligation,
much could have been forgiven for its wayward artistic choices.
A silly idea executed in a balanced, professional way is much
easier to excuse than this offering. To offer a production of
Shakespeare that is silly, haphazardly acted, and slurred all
at once is just plain wrong, no matter in what galaxy it's set,
or how long ago the action has taken place.
Production Details:
As You Like It by William Shakespeare
Arizona
State University Department of Theatre
at The Galvin Playhouse, Tempe
965-6447
November 13th - November 28th, 1998