As You Like It, as staged by New Theater, probably deserved more laughs than it received at Sunday matinee in September. Its fundamental are sound, and it gets a big assist from small touches and tech work. This is the play that gives us the Seven Ages of Man speech. It's the comedy in which all sorts of people are drawn to the Forest of Arden.
A younger brother, Orlando, complains that his older brother has failed in his duty to their late father to care for Orlando and see to his education. Orlando is then banished and goes to the forest. Elsewhere, an unrelated younger brother, Duke Frederick, has usurped his older brother, the helpfully named Duke Senior, who subsequently has taken up residence in the forest. Duke Senior's daughter, Rosalind, remained behind as a companion to Frederick's daughter, Celia, but eventually Rosalind is banished, so she and Celia head for the forest the tall Rosalind posing as a young man named Ganymede and the dressed-down Celia taking a name that reflects her new station in life, Aliena. Also among the forest denizens is a traveler, Jaques (here pronounced JA-kwee), he of the Seven Ages speech.
Under director Roberto Prestigiacomo, actors deliver their lines with energy and clarity, and the bits of physical business pays off. If the audience fails to keep up with the brisk pace toward happy endings, there are visual clues. Costumes mostly are shades of red and green, but Celia's gown is wine-colored at the palace of her father, who himself is dressed in black and silver. Neutral beiges and grays predominate in the forest, but for melancholy Jaques it's black and white.
New Theater's shallow stage has seemed crowded with scenery in past productions, but the spare set by Rob Eastman-Mullins serves As You Like It well. Pink-tinged columns at the corners and maple-colored walls frame the playing area, and with just a few easily moved benches -- dappled lighting alone signals the boughs of Arden Forest -- there's plenty of room for the early wrestling match. Plus, the wall is solid enough to produce a convincing thunk as a wrestler's body bounces off it.
A nice decision to enhance Celia, who the text specifies is shorter than Rosalind: Katherine Michelle Tanner uses big gestures with a handkerchief to elongate her silhouette, giving her a larger stage presence without changing the script. Indeed, the adaptation by Ricky J. Martinez seems to consist of trimming the text. The story's still set at about the time Shakespeare wrote the play, the male characters (I'll include Ganymede) are in knee breeches, and the music by M. Anthony Reimer evokes the English Renaissance.
Because As You Like It contains several passages of characters weighing their likes and dislikes -- home versus travel; merry vs. melancholy; and Touchstone, Celia's clown, allowing that he enjoys the solitary aspect of life in the fields but finds it tedious compared with life at court here are a few other pluses and minuses:
Minuses: Some otherwise fine characterizations by Elise Girardin as Rosalind, Tanner as Celia and Clint Hooper as Jaques are diminished by their voices trailing off at the end of their scenes.
Pluses: Hooper's supple rendering of the "Seven Ages" speech as he plucks petals from a flower; Cliff Burgess as an earnest Orlando; Joshua David Robinson, one of five New Theater apprentices in the 14-member cast, as Touchstone; and James Samuel Randolph ranging from the suspicious and authoritarian Duke Frederick to the merry god of marriage Hymen, whose joyousness in the final scene is infectious.
