As You Like It

by William Shakespeare

seen at the National Theatre (Olivier) on 15 December 2015

This modern-set production is directed by Polly Findlay with sets designed by Lizzie Clachan and it features Rosalie Craig as Rosalind and Joe Bannister as Orlando, with Patsy Ferran as Celia, Paul Chahidi as Jacques, Philip Arditti as Oliver and Mark Benton as Touchstone.

Banks of computer desks on a carpet of brightly-coloured rectangles greet us, with many besuited employees busy hot-desking. In a nice nod to the later pastoral setting, the screen savers are of lush English trees and the post-it notes are all green; there are bonsai trees on every desk. A young man in overalls arrives with a toolbox and starts tinkering with a machine, then polishing some glass.

Suddenly, he is Orlando, bemoaning his lot, a mere drudge in his brother's prosperous IT firm. Soon, the same set, without the bonsai and with less idyllic screensavers, is the domain of Duke Frederick, and somehow (despite the implausibility) there is a wrestling match set up in front of all the desks.

The modern take on artificial court life is cleverly done - the women in power suits, the men with gaudy jackets but nonetheless complete ciphers, the usurping duke a ruthless CEO. One suspects that a modern playwright interpolating  an all-in wrestling match in an IT office would have been told to think again, but when the text is Shakespeare there seems to be some licence for waywardness in the production design. After all, some other uproarious team-bonding activity in such a place is more than likely, so the idea is only a little far-fetched.

The transformation to the forest is a wonderful coup de theatre whereby all the furniture is revealed to be linked together, and it is hauled up to become the trees of Arden, a tangled mess of chairs and desks in which the 'choir' sit and issue bird cries, the yelps of foxes, and sundry other sounds, while occasionally dousing an unsuspecting shepherd with water. In subdues lighting this is indeed the 'desert place' which seems so inhospitable to its new visitors; only later do neon lights glow to provide a more welcoming effect.

Amidst all this, the play proceeds in its winning way, with a delightfully gauche Orlando in Joe Bannister beautifully smitten by (and smiting) the mercurial Rosalind of Rosalie Craig. It is perfectly credible that Orlando should be tongue tied at his first meeting with Rosalind, and yet able to express his frustration eloquently as soon as she is out of sight. Though his verses carved onto the trees (those post-it notes again) are rightly mocked by both Jacques and by Rosalind-as-Ganymede, Orlando's enthusiasm and generally sunny disposition are not at all dented; he may be out of his depth, but he still remains a credibly worthy lover.

Rosalie Craig gives us a Rosalind of energetic delight - bowled over by Orlando, but still self-possessed and determined to question her lover's unthinkingly cliched avowals and playing at being a boy for all it is worth. Celia, dutifully supporting her cousin but with a fine show of weary affection at her extravagant fancies, is nicely portrayed by Patsy Ferran; the whole 'love at first sight' idea is pointed up not only by Orlando's and Rosalind's first encounter, but also by that between Celia and Oliver, suddenly converted from hateful to loving elder brother - a difficult hurdle well handled here by Philip Arditti. Between these two balancing encounters is the misdirected affection of Phoebe for the supposed Ganymede; she is the one who extols love at first sight, but she is the one really deceived.

The presence of the cynical Jacques at the court-in-exile in the forest (balanced by the sheerly opportunistic Touchstone who accompanies the cousins in their exile) provides a darker contrast to all the love plots. Here, Paul Chahidi did not emphasise misanthropy, but rather a somewhat jaundiced disgust with all the frivolity around him. This avoided making him a psychological study, which is far more than the general atmosphere of the play demands, though perhaps his amusement value to the exiled Duke and his followers was rather hard for a modern audience to appreciate.

All in all, an engaging and enjoyable production.