As You Like It: a trip to the lovely, earthy Forest of Arden
13 Jul 2025 - Photos by David Hou

It takes a lot of convoluted plot to get to the central scene of As You Like It. It is as if Shakespeare didn't quite trust that a crossdressing rom-com romp would have enough weight to attract critical approval. Director Chris Abraham (Rosmersholm, ;Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812, Uncle Vanya, Mixtape, Towards Youth, We Are Not Alone, The Wedding Party) and designer Julie Fox are of the same mind, and this production opens with the stage crowded with the ensemble hefting and piling sandbags into towering piles. Guards with guns patrol but are commanded by Oliver De Boys, Andrew Chown (Hedda Gabler, Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo), to allow his youngest brother Orlando, Christopher Allen (Cymbeline, Rockabye, Redbone Coonhound, Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo, Orphans for the Czar), to engage him in a confrontation. Orlando feels he has been cheated out of his rightful inheritance and wants the money and freedom for an education. The brothers battle but Orlando has to settle for wrestling Duke Frederick's champion in hopes of defeating him for a financial windfall.

Meanwhile, the lovely Rosalind, Sara Farb (Kelly v Kelly, UnCovered: The Music of Dolly Parton, Fun Home), is bemoaning her fate under gently but ominously falling snow. Her mother the Duchess, the regal Seana McKenna (Twelfth Night, Yaga, Lear), has been exiled to the Forest of Arden and Rosalind is only allowed to stay at court because of the affectionate friendship between herself and the Duke's daughter Celia, Makambe K Simamba (The First Stone, White Heat). Rosalind and Orlando meet cute through a barbed wire fence and sparks fly. Though the wrestler, Joe Perry, is large and cocky, Orlando though agility and athleticism manages to trounce him. But instead of a prize, the enraged Duke, Sean Arbuckle (La Cage aux Folles, Casey and Diana) outfitted in full fascist leather Erich von Stroheim drag, banishes Orlando. And for good measure Rosalind. Celia and the court jester Touchstone, Steve Ross (La Cage aux Folles, Assassins), decide to flee with Rosalind.

Throughout, the imposing Putin-esque doors that dominate the back of the stage, a complete transformation from the Festival Theatre's usual configuration, occasionally open to reveal the Forest of Arden which is also being slowly snowed on by the same gloomy and ominous flakes. We meet the Duchess and her followers, most crucially Melancholy Jaques played by Aaron Krohn. Jaques has a crucial and familiar speech, which Krohn delivers ringingly.  
All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances,
And one man in his time plays many parts
The latter, and longer, portion of the declamation is both comic and morbid and seems to link to the state of mind of Duke Frederick who sadly has now disappeared from the action (only returning, offstage, in a deus ex machina that facilitates the happy ending). But the oft-quoted opening salvo is crucial. As You Like It is a play full of disguises, role play and mistaken identities. The foremost being Rosalind disguising herself in boy drag as Ganymede (a name which would have resonated with audiences in the days when mythological references and sexual fluidity were common) in order to flee Duke Frederick. 

The second act opens in a sudden summer, with bright sunlight and flowers. Touchstone is luxuriating in the change of pace of farm/forest life and wittily verbally spars with the shepherd Corin, Hiro Kanagawa, over the virtues of life at court. He also primes the audience for the comedy to come and compares physiques with the muscled Leon Qin. Ross is hilarious and gregarious and his ribald pursuit of the the goat herder Audrey, the equally ribald Silvae Mercedes, is filled with slapstick and verbal wordplay. Orlando is wandering around posting love poems dedicated to Rosalind on trees. One is delivered to her and, after mocking his skills as a poet, she decides to test Orlando by offering him love lessons where she, as Ganymede, pretends to be Rosalind. And here we get to the meat of As You Like It. Farb and Allen have real heat between then and their jockeying for who gets to be on top is farcical but very sexy. Farb struts with a charming inner insecurity while Allen gives subtle hints that he may just be in on the game Ganymede is playing. Or he may be considering a walk on the wild side.

Farb and Allen are so attractive and so much fun to watch, that one barely notices that the happy ending and grand finale are not in any way earned. Everything that leads to it, aside from the assorted romances getting sorted out into conventional one-on-one pairings of the heterosexual variety, occurs offstage. And most of them, especially the Duke's change of heart, are contrivances. Everyone dresses tropical to sing and dance to some wispy folky tunes by Ron Sexsmith and presumably live happily ever after. While this review might seem to be packed with spoilers, I feel no guilt, there is a very necessary synopsis in the program after all. Abrahams has attempted to pull a disjointed play into a thematically coherent production and very nearly pulls it off. The cast treats the language lovingly and clearly but one suspects that Shakespeare was rushed while trying for a commercial twofer and hence the wild swings in tone. The Forest of Arden is a lovely, earthy place to learn about love and speculate about gender roles, powerful enough to apparently upend the Duke's fascist court, so best to just enjoy the heat and be grateful the snow has stopped for the moment.