As You Like It at the National Theatre

The set of Branagh’s Winter’s Tale was magically conceived and realized, and the set of As You Like It at the National was also magical in its own way. The opening scene at court is presented as a colorful but claustrophobic office, bringing to mind the worst of a Wall Street trading office perhaps, and Orlando’s reduced status is blatantly telegraphed by showing him as one of the office cleaning staff, with his brother in a business suit.

The coup de théâtre occurs in the transition to the Forest of Arden, when the entire set is pulled up by hidden cables to create a forest of suspended desks and chairs. It’s quite stunning, and the rest of the play takes place under this tangled mass. Which was the problem for me. Why should the Forest of Arden look like a blackened post-apocalyptic landscape? Or a post-apocalyptic Ikea? And what can the sheep possibly find to graze on in this landscape? (I pass over the illogic of a wrestling match in the office, as well as Rosalind and Celia also in the office in their pj’s—Hello Kitty for Celia!—before they take off for the forest).

For all the blackness of the set, the interpretation was quite straightforward: well-acted and transparent in presenting the pleasures of the (shortened) text. Rosalie Craig made a charming Rosalind, Orlando was his usual doofus self, and the supporting cast was all good. The revelation, though, was Patsy Ferran as Celia. She’s only 25, is performing her third major role at the National or the RSC in the past year, and may be on her way to the top. She’s an irresistible comic (think Maggie Smith crossed with Mr. Bean), and she combines that with a welcome generosity in the way she listens to her fellow actors and shares her thinking with the audience. Watch for her!