As You Like It- BAM

Tonight I ventured to the Harvey Theater with my mom to see Sam Mendes's production of As You Like It. It was very modernized and simplistic. As the show was going on, I was loving it, but afterwards I realized that a few choices throughout the play bothered me. Rosalind, arguably the main character in the play, wound up overshadowing a lot of the other actors as the play progressed. Her personality was so powerful, and everyone else's were so weak; the play almost wasn't believable. In the beginning of the play, Rosalind and her cousin (and best friend) Celia have a very warm relationship, but by the end Celia sort of loses her voice. To conclude the play, Rosalind winds up with Orlando, a character who lost his gusto as the play progressed, and by the end it didn't make sense as to why she wanted to be with him. Ironically, a review that just let out said that there didn't seem to be any chemistry between Rosalind and Orlando, even though the actors are married in real life!

I feel as if some of these character developments were enforced by Mendes, because listening to the script alone, it's clear that both Orlando and Celia could have been more outgoing and appealing throughout the entire play. I guess Mendes wanted Orlando to turn into the pensive hunk or something, and I suppose that he made Celia more subdued to show how ludicrous Rosalind was being, but regardless I think the play grew weaker.

I know this happens in a lot of plays, especially in Shakespearean productions, but Mendes used a lot of the same actors to play different characters, and didn't change them well enough for the audience to be able to detect the differences. One actor played two different Dukes, who were enemies one might say, and it made the plot a lot more confusing when characters seemed as if they were interacting with a Duke that they were not supposed to be interacting with. I think if I had read the play beforehand, that might have made more sense.

The set was dark, beautiful, and simple. Somehow, using the same set the entire time, the characters always seemed to be in different locations. There were amazing, but again, simple, guitar numbers throughout with singing, something Mendes obviously added to the play. The songs broke up the long duration of the play nicely, and many of them were funny. I don't want to give anything away, but there was a hilarious Bob Dylan reference that I don't think anyone in the audience was expecting.

Even though this review, or reflection, or whatever you may call it, seems a little critical of the production, I really did enjoy it as a whole and I definitely think it is worth seeing. Mendes got extremely creative and added a lot of humor and modern touches. I'm also sure that the music was unique to the production, which is something audiences don't see in every play. Overall, I think it is a well-done, light-hearted and fresh revival of Shakespeare's work.