Jasmine Cheri Rush as Celia and Caroline Amos as Rosalind in the St. Louis Shakespeare Festival’s performance of As You Like It. Photo by Phillip Hamer Photography, courtesy of the Festival.
I saw the St. Louis Shakespeare Festival’s current production of As You Like It at Forest Park on Friday. Let me convince you why you should do likewise.
First off, director Nancy Bell wisely opted to enhance this play’s exploration of the emotional experience of young women in love by casting female actors for many of the parts traditionally gendered as male. This choice not only tended to enhance As You Like It’s girl power vibe, but also added a layer of delightful disguise to a narrative already deeply committed to the comic complications of passing yourself off as someone you are not. Arguably, this cross-gendering restores the aspect of transvestite tomfoolery present in Shakespeare’s day when all of the female roles would have been performed by boys. It certainly evokes an appreciation of As You Like It considerably different than the one you had when you read the play in school, which is one good reason to make the journey to Forest Park.
Among the phalanx of exceptional female actors on offer in this production, Jasmine Cheri Rush stands out as Celia. Her energy is intensely focused and her line delivery is consistently impeccable. While somewhat of a secondary character, Rush is so dynamic that she often convinces you this play is more about Celia shepherding her boy-crazy cousin through the deep, dark forest than anything else.
Watching Caroline Amos (who plays Rosalind, the boy-crazy cousin) counter Rush’s claim to acting primacy provides a significant portion of this production’s fun. Amos is particularly skilled at replicating first love’s infatuated excitement. These moments often feel transcendent, the best of which may be when Rosalind asks nine rapid fire questions about Orlando, the object of her desire, and then demands they all be answered in a single word. Further, Amos has the capacity to supply such moments through sheer physical gesture, such as when she ecstatically shudders when first brushing against Orlando or “slinks” through the trees in order to surreptitiously observe him.
Touchstone, which is performed by Ricki Franklin, is a salient example of a wisely re-gendered character. This character can be extraordinarily difficult to act since the jester delivers vast swathes of ridiculous rhetoric, but Franklin proves herself more than up to the task. The director deleted the subplot concerning Touchstone’s attempts to be married by an incompetent priest so it can later be nullified, a ploy that would have undermined this girl-centric interpretation.
Seeing actors as talented as Rush, Amos, and Franklin usually requires plopping down a lot of cash. You can see them for no charge if you follow the signs to Forest Park.
Before quitting my recounting of this show’s girl power flair, Beth Bombara’s contribution as the musical Amiens must be noted. As You Like It contains some of Shakespeare’s most beloved songs, which most directors assign to a single actor who serves as the banished duke’s troubadour, as is the case here. Since the original accompaniment has been lost, the performance of the songs can pose a creative quandary. Bombara forgoes both Renaissance re-enactment on lutes or the trend toward quasi-operatic acapella, instead rendering the interludes into an Americana styling that emphasizes Sam Golden’s magisterial efforts on the viola and mandolin. Like the decision to re-gender characters, this injection of an Americana vibe fosters a relationship to Shakespeare’s words that is considerably different than the one you had when you read As You Like It in college. And that’s another reason to make the trip to Forest Park.
The men who remain in this odyssey to the Forest of Arden ardently attempt to match the template of excellence left by the ladies. Christian Thompson provides an Orlando whose wit is as supple as his body. Wali Jamal delivers a Jaques with the capacity to color his melancholy with a multitude of subtle tints and shades, uncovering unexpected nuances in the well-known speech about the seven parts one plays upon the human stage. Joel Moses delights with his dastardly Duke Frederick, who is allowed a reappearance at the close of the play instead of having his conversion to better behavior being related by a third party. If these performances were the sole attraction for As You Like It, they would be sufficient basis for a pilgrimage to Forest Park.
Finally, this production includes an intricately embellished sylvan grove that drew gasps when the curtain was dropped to reveal it, a live goat who beguiled the audience with its reluctance to leave, and a rousing wrestling scene led by local legend Lenny Mephistopheles. Make your plans now to see this show before it ends it’s run on June 23rd. | Chuck Von Nordheim
As You Like It runs now through June 23 at Shakespeare Glen in Forest Park (6604 Fine Arts Dr.). Performances are Tuesday through Sunday at 8:00pm. Attendance is free and no reservations are required, though a limited number of paid reserved and blanket spots are available. For more information, visit stlshakes.org.
