"As You Like It" - Richmond Shakespeare Festival, 2008

As You Like It

by William Shakespeare

Richmond Shakespeare Festival

July 2008

Buoyed by a triumphant run in Richmond Shakespeare’s downtown venue, As You Like It moved outdoors for a limited two-week run at historic Agecroft Hall, a Tudor mansion relocated from England to the banks of the James River in the 1920s. The company was inflated from its original five to fifteen, necessitating a change in focus from small-cast frenetic energy to something larger-scale.

The tech remained largely the same, with the turning-benches enhanced with actual tree bark on their forest sides. The Agecroft stage, erected annually in the manor’s courtyard, is a small (16x20) thrust that struggled to contain the energy of the fifteen actors treading its boards. Doors up right and up left provided the main entrances, as well as voms leading through the floor seating into the downstage corners and a wide curtained opening up center. City entrances used the doors, country ones the voms, and the curtained area was used for meta-theatrical storytelling moments. The costumes were refinements of the downtown costumes, no longer needing the simplicity of quick-change fastenings.

The initial challenge was to bring ten new actors into roles that had already been very successfully portrayed by the five actors still in the company. We tackled this in two ways: first by bringing Julie Phillips, my Doctor Faustus collaborator, to serve in a co-directing capacity with fresh eyes, and second by emphasizing anew the ensemble generation of performance text. The new actors had new ideas (as did the old ones), and very few of the original production’s moments and “bits” were considered sacrosanct.

A couple big new ideas were added. To enhance the feel of the forest, actors who weren’t in the Arden scenes donned camouflaged ponchos and stood in as trees. (The slight sob of the weeping willow as she stood in place was a highlight, as was the Virginia creeper slowly clawing his way across the back wall.) And we used the curtained upstage area to act out in pantomime scenes that characters described, such as Orlando (Patrick Bromley)’s battle with the lion (Liz Blake), Oliver (Danny Devlin)’s wooing of Celia (Julia Rigby), and the evil Duke (Michael Dunn)’s abdication.

The scope of the production was much larger with the larger company, culminating in an enormous wedding celebration complete with traditional dances: all four couples sang “In the Springtime” while alternating the Chicken Dance, Electric Slide, Macarena, and even the Soulja Boy for the four choruses.

As You Like It had a limited run of eight performances at Agecroft Hall.

Celia (Julia Rigby) listens as Oliver (Danny Devlin) tells his story of redemption. Photo by Eric Dobbs.

"Ganymede" (Sunny LaRose) carries "Aliena" (Julia Rigby) to the Forest of Arden, with precious little assistance from Touchstone (Adam Mincks). Photo by Eric Dobbs.

Touchstone (Adam Mincks) is "married badly" by Sir Oliver Mar-Text (Danny Devlin) to Audrey (Jennifer Vick), who is outfitted for the blessed occasion. Photo by Eric Dobbs.

The always-graceful and ladylike Phebe (Liz Blake) spurns the love of Silvius (Jake Allard). Photo by Eric Dobbs.

"If this be so, why blame you me to love you?" Silvius (Jake Allard), Phebe (Liz Blake), and "Ganymede" (Sunny LaRose) reach the climax of Shakespeare's complex love rectangle. Photo by Eric Dobbs.

Richmond Times-Dispatch: "Midsummer may be nearing, but the peak of the summer theater season at Agecroft Hall has just arrived.... In the lovely Tudor courtyard, Richmond Shakespeare Festival's reprise of "As You Like It" is a laugh-filled, updated take on the Bard's comedy.... [They] create a show that is full of contemporary style and plays hard for every laugh.... [Hamm] infuses the proceedings with all the subtlety of a Judd Apatow film. There's a strong physical component, whether comedy or combat (or spitting), and an especially clever use of upstage plays-within-the-play that enact some of the major speeches while they are delivered."

Style Weekly: " 'As You Like It' is a charming, funny production that bears the unique, often unexpected flavor that Richmond Shakespeare has spent 23 years stewing."

"As You Like It" - Richmond Shakespeare Theatre, 2008

As You Like It

by William Shakespeare

Richmond Shakespeare Theatre

April – May 2008

Richmond Theatre Critics Circle award nominee:

“Best Play” and “Best Director”

Richmond Theatre Critics Circle award winner:

“Outstanding Achievement in Costumes”

Richmond Shakespeare’s specialty for many years has been five-actor productions of the Bard’s plays. For comedies, in particular, this provides fabulous opportunities for actors to exercise all of their skills in creating external character, but with the added challenge of keeping everything honest and grounded. Richmond Shakespeare chose to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the company’s first five-actor Shakespeare production of As You Like It with a new staging.

In casting the show, I selected actors who had experience in extremely collaborative or ensemble pieces, or who demonstrated a strong collaborative spirit in auditions or callbacks. Each actor played at least four roles, and all but one played his or her opposite gender, accentuating the script’s gender-confusion motif. Unlike many of my previous directorial efforts, this one was not heavy on an essential concept or theme. It’s not that there weren’t themes explored (such as family and the country-city divide), but I chose instead to focus more strongly on the characters, text, storytelling, and the sheer delight of these five gifted actors tackling all of the roles in this wonderful play.

Costume designer Rebecca Cairns’ work was essentially the entire tech for the show. The base palate was a very courtly, sophisticated 1920s cricket match style, but the denizens of Arden wore more earthy tones and textures, many with vegetation apparently living on their clothes and bodies. Base costumes were adorned with a character-indicating piece or two; Orlando (Patrick Bromley) put on a wreath of flowers to become Audrey, Celia (Julia Rigby) removed her skirt to reveal Silvius’ breeches. These pieces were designed for rapid changes, as some actors had to play multiple characters in the same scene. Character changes were usually accomplished with the assistance of one or more other actors, but the action was continuous; a problem getting a vest on would happen in character as the scene continued. All costume changes happened in full audience view.

The stage was two levels, an upper stage with a baby grand piano right, five chairs up center, and a costume rack up left, with a lower stage at audience level peaking in a mild thrust. A quartet of coat racks dotted the playing space, providing the actors with a variety of places to set their costume pieces. A pair of benches on the lower stage area were turned and tilted to form logs, making the only transition from city to country life. Lighting was universal, allowing a lot of playful direct audience address, primarily from Touchstone (Adam Mincks) and Jaques (Frank Creasy). When not in the scene (which was seldom), the actors watched the action from seats up center. I also composed music, which was played live from my position at the piano.

The show’s greatest challenge was the need for four actors to play two quartets of brides and grooms in the final scene (the fifth actor, playing Jaques, was not included in this coupling extravaganza). The key to this moment, and indeed to the entire production, was in refusing to see the challenges of a small cast as a limitation, instead finding the unique delight in it. When Jaques referred to each couple in turn, the actors would tear off one costume piece, dart to the area of the stage indicated, put on the new piece, and snap into their new character and relationship. What began as the production’s biggest “problem” scene became its signature moment, and the frenetic energy bled into the audience’s reaction.

As You Like It performed a four-week run in the chapel at Second Presbyterian Church, and was one of the most acclaimed productions in Richmond Shakespeare’s history. The production received three nominations for the inaugural Richmond Theatre Critics Circle Awards: Best Play, Best Director, and Outstanding Achievement in Costume Design, for which Rebecca Cairns won. Its popularity resulted in a revival production the following summer, with the cast increased to fifteen. The fifteen-actor version had its charms and challenges, but the five-actor template was simply magical.

Silvius (Julia Rigby) is rebuffed in his attempts to woo Phebe (Adam Mincks). Photo by Timothy Wood.

Audrey (Patrick Bromley) falls for the citified charms of Touchstone (Adam Mincks). Photo by Timothy Wood.

"Ganymede" (Sunny LaRose) instructs Celia (Julia Rigby) how to properly officiate at a wedding while Orlando (Patrick Bromley) looks on, bemused. Photo by Timothy Wood.

William (Sunny LaRose) seems impervious to threats issuing from the mouth of Touchstone (Adam Mincks). Photo by Timothy Wood.

Style Weekly: "Director Andrew Hamm has done a masterful job of choreographing a vibrant, witty homage to this prototype of romantic comedy.... The many characters who romped through the forest of Arden, celebrating the rites of spring with music and dance, could threaten to get mixed up — especially considering the multiple identities already at work within the story — but there was an ease and confidence to the production that precluded any disorientation."

Richmond Times-Dispatch: "As is the company's frequent practice -- at least for its indoor season -- costume pieces are hung in plain sight, so that when Mincks, hilarious here in numerous roles, goes for that skirt, we know that something even more delicious is coming. Director Andrew Hamm (who is onstage as accompanist) has infused the production with physicality and music, his trademarks.... With nonstop energy and an approach to language that is colloquial and deceptively relaxed, Hamm has created a rollicking version of this classic. Every actor is superb, especially considering the demands of their many roles.... This is as I like it."