Writer: William Shakespeare
Director: Brendan O’Hea
It may be cloudy and drizzly, but it takes more than that to dampen the spirit of this year’s Holloway Garden 
Theatre offering of As You Like It.
The mood is set right from the start as the strains of Autumn Leaves from a solo violin begin, which soon turns into a full up-tempo version of the number, getting feet tapping and the audience clapping before the play even begins. Music and song play a major part in As You Like It and here it’s all performed by the cast, complementing the action well, thanks to composer and music director Catherine Jayes and the skill of the performers.
This is a highly abridged version of As You Like It, cut down to a running time of 80 minutes in one act, with an early start time. There’s a lot to applaud in that, making it more accessible to audiences who may be new to Shakespeare and those who want to eat or use public transport after the show, but there’s also a danger. Whilst there’s undoubtedly dialogue in most plays that could be removed without having a significant impact on the resulting product, cutting almost half of the play gives us a storyline that moves along very quickly and from time to time it ends up somewhere without the necessary build-up to take the audience with it.
The small cast works extremely hard to cover all the characters required in the piece, with some quick costume changes and varying accents as they switch roles as well as taking up musical instruments on regular occasions. Luke Brady (Orlando) has an injury which means that he has to perform the entirety of his role from a chair at the side of the stage – and what a great job he does of it too. It also allows for some additional comedy in what is already a comic play, as Duke Senior (Peter Dukes) invites Orlando to sit, not once but twice – though the moment that causes the most laughter is when Charles the wrestler (Dukes again, in his other role) has a wrestling match with himself – and loses it.
Letty Thomas makes a determined Rosalind, and Christina Tedders gives us a lovely range of facial expressions as Celia, with an amusing array of costumes and props (look out for the scene where they are running away to the forest) – good work here by designer Liam Bunster. Trevor Fox is a wonderfully melancholy Jaques, in contrast with Duncan Wisbey’s funny interpretation of Touchstone – 400 years from when they were created, Shakespeare’s fools aren’t always easy to pitch well and Wisbey manages it nicely. Ned Derrington makes what he can of Oliver, not the largest of roles, and we get a wonderful turn as lovelorn shepherd Silvius from Chris Nayak in pursuit of his reluctant Phoebe (Natasha Magigi). Rounding off the cast we have an amusingly shy and giggly Audrey from Susannah Van Den Berg, unused to the attention she’s getting from Touchstone.
This production certainly retains the essence of the play and all of the important storylines and dialogue, in a piece that is more accessible for anyone who doesn’t want to sit through the entire play, but it does challenge the audience to keep up from time to time.
Runs until 1 September 2024
