After spending endless months rehearsing, on Dec. 7, the school’s Theater Department presented a Shakespeare classic, “As You Like It”. As stated in the playbill, “[The play is] a music-filled comedy by William Shakespeare that has been described by our cast as, ‘The greatest rom-com ever.’”
The play began with Duke Fredrick (senior Annika Kile) banishing his older brother Duke Senior (senior Finn Bernuy). The story followed Rosalind (junior Lexi Miller), daughter of Duke Fredrick, and Orlando (sophomore Ross Donlan). They both fall in love, and end up banished into the Forest of Aden without the knowledge of the other. Rosalind pretends to be a guy under the pseudonym of Ganymede and, after finding Orlando, attempts to flirt with him. Rosalind, unable to get Orlando’s attention as Ganymede, the play followed a series of comedic scenes with the end showing four marriages, one of which being Rosalind and Orlando. The play was very comedic and well-rehearsed despite the intricacies of a Shakespearean Production.
Despite their constant struggles, the theater program could stage a play that was comprehensible and entertaining. Prior to the play’s start, the audience was informed that the original actor for Celia (senior Ellie Rockey), the best friend of Rosalind, was sick and, at the last minute, sophomore Pippin Blackwell-Curtis assumed the role. Despite this sudden change, Blackwell-Curtis stepped in and excelled in her interpretation of Celia. The rest of the cast also exceptionally showcased the play.
A part of acting is acting even when one does not have lines. Miller and Donlan showed this often throughout the play; in their romance, they acted in a ‘giddy’ manner in everything they did. At the beginning of the play, Rosalind (Miller), gives a necklace to Orlando (Donlan), which is used throughout the entire play. Orlando would be found playing with the necklace throughout the play, and it metaphorically depicts Orlando’s emotions; whether longing or giddiness, it held an important role in the play.
One large challenge with producing a play created by Shakespeare is the language barrier; while Shakespearean English is English, it requires a reader to carefully read the script, let alone have an audience understand it in a moment’s glance. Shakespeare also writes using an Iambic Pentameter, requiring the actors to spend extra time rehearsing and perfecting this. Despite this, the actors were able to make the words easily understandable. After watching the Theaters Program’s Production of “As You Like it,” I realized that the words never made sense, yet how they said them let you understand what they meant to say. Much like watching a movie in another language, you could pick up what one was trying to say based on the actor’s acting. This language barrier forces the actors to do not only their best acting, but better than that. From an outsider’s view, the audience laughed and attentively watched the entire production; one would have never guessed this was a Shakespeare production.
In assistance to the audience, the play was slightly modernized. The words were the same, yet the costumes and the mannerism of the actors held a sense of deja vu from the teenagers in classic Disney TV shows. In the play, when talking to Celia (Blackwell-Curtis), Rosalind (Miller) says, “Let me love him for that and you love him for I do.” There were no changes within the script, but the words still gave a childish and joking connotation that gives the audience some sense of the relevance of the emotions to real life. This was shown throughout the entire play, when Rosalind (Miller), fought with her father, Duke Frederick (Kile), it seemed like a typical Disney trope where the girl fights with her dad because he doesn’t like her friend. Even during a fight between Orlando (Donlan) and Charlie the Wrestler (senior Zosia Barry), the ensemble began chanting and surrounding the fight like middle schoolers before a planned fight.
Overall, the school’s theater program’s of “As You Like It”production truly exemplifies all the emotions in Shakespeare’s original production. From the energetic music before a fight, to the teenage giddiness from Rosalind and Orlando, and to the quick thinking of the cast and crew, the school’s production of “As You Like It” was a Shakespearean comedy just as we like it.
