As You Like It, Oxford Theatre Guild, Trinity College Gardens

9:48am Thursday 17th July 2008

Last seen performing Neil Simon's Plaza Suite at the Playhouse, The Oxford Theatre Guild change tack somewhat and join the throng of outdoor performances in Oxford with their version of Shakespeare's As You Like It. Performed in the elegant gardens of Trinity College with a large cast, and set in the 1960s, it purports to be an unusual twist to this comedy of love, rejection and mistaken identities.

Although it features one of Shakespeare's most rounded female characters, Rosalind, and some of the Bard's most sparkling dialogue and poetry, As You Like It is performed considerably less often than his nearest comparable plays Twelfth Night and Much Ado About Nothing. It's a romantic comedy, but one that has a melancholy heart, bleeding with rejection and neuroses. The story revolves around Rosalind (Jessica Clare Bridge) who is living in a kingdom tyrannically ruled by Duke Senior (Peter Roberts). The Duke has banished her father and taken over the kingdom. She falls in love with Orlando (James Reilley), son of a sympathiser of one of the duke's enemies, and both are banished into the forest. Rosalind takes Celia (Jessica Welch), her cousin, with her, and they both assume false identities in the forest, and much chaos ensues, especially when Rosalind meets up with Orlando once more . . .

The company dresses its cast in miscellaneous sixties garb, pipes in music from the period and converts the play's songs into hippy sing-a-longs to recreate the era. Unfortunately this is not enough, and all these changes do seem rather skin-deep. In the programme the director, Joseph Kenneway, does argue his themes; shifting morality, suspicion of power, emancipation of women; but he fails to bring these themes out in the play. Because of this - and because of some particularly flat direction - this production sometimes comes across as lifeless and lacking in imagination. It has the effect of flagging up the longueurs and occasional banalities of the play, which also happens to be one of Shakespeare's least successful romantic comedies.

That said, some of the performances are sparky and enjoyable. Although Jessica Clare Bridge never captures quite the right tone for Rosalind, she is a likeable presence. The supporting cast tend to outshine most of the main players; special praise must be reserved for Sam Knipe as Audrey.

Although enjoyable and watchable enough, this As You Like It fails to really take off and breathe new life into this flawed play. Some solid performances and fun costumes do not make up for a lack of imagination and verve.

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