Drama’s ‘As You Like It’ brings more of Shakespeare’s chick-flick humor to the MVHS audience

It is another Shakespeare romance, with a lot more lovesick characters who do special Shakespeare-like crazy things—like carving love poems on trees.

Between Orlando (Gavin Mueller) and Rosalind (Kelly Jackson), Shakespeare unravels a complex love story—with the usual cross-dressing that he is known to throw in to complicate matters. There is also a complex love triangle, where Rosalind, who is dressed as a man, is pursued by Phebe (Melanie Kim), who is constantly chased after by a shepherd Silvius (Grant Menon), while a faithful, yet sharp-tongued lord Jacques (Ab Menon, not related to Grant Menon) narrates their witticism throughout the play.

The first scene starts out with a very dramatic scene between brothers Orlando and Oliver (Joss Lee), arguing in Shakespearean English which immediately draws the audience in. The verbal battle, in which words are thrown out faster than the speed of light, in combination with a short choreographed fistfight later on in the act defines sibling rivalry at a new level. The choreography is also nicely demonstrated through in the duel between Charles (Max Sorg) and Orlando—it is obvious that the two must have spent hours coordinating the complex movements to portray such dramatic action.

To balance out the action, the romantic scene that immediately follows completely contrasts with the action before, in which the audience meets Rosalind and her cousin Celia (Karina Fathi), who see Orlando in the marketplace. The humorous, yet romantic encounter is well demonstrated in both Rosalind and Orlando’s characters when they fall in love at first sight.

The romantic comedy is especially apparent through the love verses Orlando carves onto trees in the Forest of Arden that exaggerate Orlando’s love for Rosalind—“All the pictures fairest lined/ Are but black to Rosalind.” Touchstone (Andrew Erickson) comes in with his own witty remarks—“Sweetest nut hath sourest rind/Such a nut is Rosalind.” It is these humorous parts that balance out the mushy-gushy romance to keep the audience on the edge of their seats.

Beautiful, yet practical background sets, with nicely-placed stairs and doorways, allow easy exits and entrances by different characters of various ranks. The balcony above the rest of the stage also made it obvious for Duke Frederick (Teddy Ivanova) to play her part looking down—literally—at those fighting below her. Beautiful lighting both in front as well as behind the set made the change of scenes and acts easy for the audience to follow.

Costumes accurately portrayed the time period as well as the division between the social classes. Orlando, who was dressed in light baggy clothes, strongly contrasted with the regal shiny costume of Duke Frederick. The rubber boots of some characters became a little distracting as they reflected light into the audience’s eyes, but the costumes did give the overall feeling of medieval dress.

However, let us not forget the amazing actors on stage. Kelly Jackson and Gavin Mueller, who never missed a beat in their long Shakespearean monologues, showed the fruitful results of their efforts at late night rehearsals. Characters such as Touchstone and Jacques, with their wit and humor said without so much as a smile, added a touch of spice to the romantic play that the audience loved, shown by the audience’s hooting and whistling at the end of the play for these two. And last but not least, a special shout-out to Audrey (Rotem Landesman) for her hiccuping laughs that the audience never got tired of.

The drama department really outdid themselves this time to present the romantic comedy in a way that makes Shakespeare an enjoyment to this generation of teenagers. Now that’s impressive.

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