As You Like It: New Reviews

We've had another great review courtesy of County Woman! Here's what they thought of As You Like It at Ludlow Castle...
  
"Shakespeare has plenty to say about love and women in his pastoral comedy As You Like It, and it is still laugh out loud funny after just over 400 years.

Presented in association with Stafford Gatehouse Theatre, the production takes place in the lovely setting of Ludlow Castle. The opening night saw music and merriment aplenty as we were transported back to the Swinging Sixties.

Its two big stars are John Challis (Only Fools and Horses) and Eric Potts (Coronation Street). Challis, as the melancholy Jacques, was a class act whose quiet presence and perfectly weighted delivery of lines were an acting masterclass. Likewise Potts, playing a very different character in the fool Touchstone, was perfectly cast and drew the eye whenever he was on stage.

All the acting from an impressively strong cast was first rate, with a pleasing chemistry between the love-struck Orlando (Tom Radford) and Rosalind (Georgina White), the latter excellent when her character was pretending to be a man. Jennifer Greenwood as Celia also lit up the stage.

This production is set amid the cultural wars of the late 60s, with the Cold War paranoia of the usurping duke constrasting with the hippy camp of the court in exile. Adding to the 60s vibe were the superb musicians, who not only played a part in the action but got us in the mood with songs before each half – The Times They Are A-Changing, Universal Soldier and so on.

A forerunner to the modern rom-com, As You Like It of course has a contrived and obvious happy ending that sees four couples married and everyone restored to their lands and fortunes. On a pleasantly mild and dry evening in Ludlow, the audience also went away smiling."

As You Like It returns to Stafford Castle from Sunday 29th June - Saturday 12th July.

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As You Like It: New Reviews

We are thrilled with the latest reviews for our SFS production of As You Like It, currently on tour at Ludlow Castle. Here's what The Stage had to say about the show...

The Stage:

"The revamped, resurgent Ludlow Arts Festival’s invitation to Stafford’s Gateway Theatre to restore open-air Shakespeare to the castle is, on the evidence of this season’s As You Like It, an inspired move. 

Accessibility and enjoyment have long been the watchwords of Stafford Festival Shakespeare, to which any member of the first night audience might add vibrancy, commitment, clarity and coherence. The 1960s Woodstock flower power setting turns Arden into a countercultural world of rebellion against the austere, repressive authoritarianism of Duke Frederick’s court. Hip songs from the 1960s, Dylan et al, superbly harmonised and choreographed, have an enraptured audience foot-tapping down Nostalgia Boulevard.

Any As You Like It stands or falls on the quality of its Rosalind. Georgina White gives us an irresistibly nuanced performance - volatile, vulnerable and crackling with emotional and theatrical intelligence. Tom Radford’s compelling Orlando is her ideal foil in the play’s exploration of gender, politics and paradox. Jennifer Greenwood’s Celia deserves the status of definitive interpretation in its warmth, spirit, insight and sharpness of delivery - nothing here of the all too common simpering, watercolour confidante. 

John Challis’s brooding, sardonic Jacques redeems the role from tired cliche, reminding cast and audience that the 1960s spirit is doomed to disappointment. I have seldom seen a more persuasive and amusing Seven Ages, suggesting perceptively that this fool is playing almost consciously a self-appointed role. Eric Potts’ Touchstone is a masterclass in comic business and audience seduction, an earthy counterblast to the cerebral misanthropy of Jacques. A very fine production, whose conception is matched by its realisation"

As You Like It returns to Stafford Castle on Sunday 29th June until Saturday 12th July.

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As You Like It: The First Reviews

We were extremely proud to open a Stafford Festival Shakespeare production on tour for the first time on Saturday at Ludlow Castle. The audience gave As You Like It a wonderful response and here's what the reviews have to say so far...

Virtual Shropshire hailed the production as "Shakespearean excellence" and praised Georgina White's performance as Rosalind, saying she "takes to the part as if Shakespeare had written it for her". Virutal Shropshire also highlighted Eric Potts' "marvellous" performance John Challis' iconic All The World's A Stage speech as a "lovely moment". You can read the full review here

The Hereford Times called it an "enchanting performance"  and were much impressed by the "strength of the entire ensemble"  of "brilliant actor musicians" adding it was "open air theatre at its absolute best". You can read the full review here.

The Shropshire Star had high praise for John Challis' "triumphant and majestic" performance, while Eric Potts was "a barrelful of laughs". The paper also noted Jennifer Greenwood as a stand out "putting in a performance of high quality". You can read the full review here.

As You Like It transfers to Stafford Castle on Sunday 29th June and will run until Saturday 12th July. You can book your tickets here