As You Like It Presented by the American Shakespeare Center at the Blackfriars Theater, Staunton, VA (review)

Reviewed by: As You Like It Presented by the American Shakespeare Center at the Blackfriars Theater, Staunton, VA Nora Frankovich As You Like It Presented by the American Shakespeare Center at the Blackfriars Theater, Staunton, VA. 17 February–14 May 2023. Directed by Jen Wineman. Costume design by Ashleigh Poteat. Music composed and directed by Tevin Davis. Prop design by Alaina Smith. Choreography by Summer England. With Kayla Carter (Orlando), Constance Swain (Rosalind), Kenzie Ross (Celia/Amiens/MarTex), Topher Embrey (Duke Frederick/Duke Senior/Corin), Summer England (Adam/Le Beau/Phebe/Audrey), Michael Manocchio (Touchstone/Oliver), and Annabelle Rollison (Silvius/Jaques/William/Charles). The American Shakespeare Center (ASC) presented an ambitious seven-actor production of William Shakespeare’s As You Like It as a part of their 35th Anniversary Season. In alignment with the ASC’s preference for minimal props and set pieces, this small-scale production relied heavily on costumes, as well as physical and vocal adjustments by the actors, to differentiate between characters. The production was quite successful in making clear distinctions between the numerous characters its cast portrayed—some actors juggling as many as four characters within the show—but many of the choices resulted in characters being associated with stereotypes. Stereotypes are not intrinsically bad or hurtful, though they may cause an eye roll from time to time, and in this production some of the stereotypes actually fit well with the characters, adding fun and humor in ways that enhanced their portrayal and successfully avoided negative associations. However, others resulted in mockery or the reinforcement of negative associations in a way that made watching this production, at times, a very uncomfortable experience. Director Jen Wineman established a 1990s aesthetic for the production which lent itself well to the opening scenes in Duke Frederick’s court. Rosalind’s and Celia’s plaid Catholic school outfits were a clear reference to the film Clueless (1995), whose patterns were carried effectively into their Ganymede and Aliena ensembles in the Forest of Arden. Kenzie [End Page 139] Ross’s Celia spoke with a Valley girl speech pattern which connected the movie’s spoiled rich girl Cher with this duke’s daughter who has been living a pampered life in court. In the United States, a Valley girl stereotype can be negatively associated with a ditsy or naïve girl, but this Celia was assertive and clever as she wandered around the Forest of Arden with Rosalind, showing her wit as she poked fun at Orlando’s terrible verses. Celia’s Valley girl accent came out more strongly when she met Oliver at the end of the play and nervously flirted with her new love interest, but this was still a young woman who had her wits about her and was very aware of what was going on. Similarly to Celia, the character of Jaques was wonderfully enhanced by the combination of Wineman’s 90s aesthetic and Annabelle Rollison’s performance. This melancholy character was dressed in black jeans and an oversized black hoodie, tying him to the emo subculture of the period. Rollison’s performance capitalized on this association as she slouched and buried her hands in the hoodie’s pockets while Jaques philosophized, roamed the stage at a slow, thoughtful pace, and leaned against the theater’s columns as Duke Senior invited him to join them in the court. The moodiness and alienation associated with emo enhanced the outsider quality of Jaques, but fortunately the production avoided leaning into the negative aspects of the emo stereotype such as self-harm or depression. The traits of the emo and Valley girl stereotypes worked well for the characters of Jaques and Celia because specific qualities of each were picked and incorporated in ways that enhanced the characters within this production. Unfortunately, the production was less successful with some of the other character choices, particularly those who utilized American Southern accents. Within the Forest of Arden, all of the native characters (Corin, Phebe, Silvius, Audrey, and William) had various forms of Southern accents which coded the forest as “The South” within this production. Each character’s wardrobe coincided with rural or country clothing as well, such as overalls, cowboy boots, straw hats...