March 21–28, 2002
theater| review
Seeing Double
As You Like It
Through April 14, Arden Theatre Co., 40 N. Second St., 215-922-1122
One of the lightest and brightest of Shakespeare’s comedies, As You Like It is brimming with love poetry — about the beloveds (of whom there are many) and about love itself. Its plot is of the usual implausible-but-who-cares kind: A Good Duke has been banished; his brother, the Bad Duke, has usurped the kingdom. At court live his daughter, Celia, and her best friend and cousin, the Good Duke’s daughter, Rosalind. There is another pair of brothers, Oliver, the Bad Brother who has grabbed all the inheritance for himself, and Orlando, the Good Brother who has been made to live like a peasant. When the Bad Duke banishes Rosalind, she and Celia go off to the forest of Arden, wherein all manner of charming pairings occur and the softening and sweetening influence of getting out of town can be seen.
Since so much of the plot turns on disguises and opposites (Bad and Good, Male and Female, Court and Country, Young and Old, Plain and Fancy), director Aaron Posner has cleverly decided to go the play one better by doubling and tripling the roles that actors play. Thus, Gene Terruso plays both Dukes (and not only does he show just about everybody else how to handle Shakespearean language without sounding stagey, but he captures the essence of imperious and benign in a few swift strokes); Jeffrey Coon plays Charles the Wrestler and also, adorably, plays Audrey, the flounciest girl; Gina Daniels plays the ancient servant Adam and the young maiden Phoebe — and so on. There are terrifically theatrical moments in the play when the scene requires the presence of two characters that one actor is playing: These problems are solved both movingly and hilariously.
Posner has decided to translate the play to a vaguely American locale: Thus, the rustic folk are hillbillies and the court folk are cityslickers. This lets the actors off the hook of altering their accents, which diminishes the play linguistically but makes for a merry time.
As Rosalind, Christina Ross is very capable; she is not, however, particularly lovable or feminine, nor is her voice charming or funny, and that makes a dent in the play. As her lover, Devin Emanuel Haqq is appealing but lacks precision of diction; Julianna Sikaik makes Celia a plausibly sweet and skinny teenager, while James Sugg as Touchstone makes little of one of the great comic roles.
Most impressive is Geoff Sobelle, who plays Jacques,the philosophic center of the play, as well as Oliver, the stiff in the suit, and Silvius, the earnest bumpkin. Sobelle also does a spectacular turn as the wrestling referee. He can handle the language as well as the physical business (his flips and whistlings are a wonder), and he is a welcome newcomer to Philadelphia’s stages.
