The first “As You Like It” to grace London’s National Theatre in more than 30 years arrives with impressive credentials. Expectations ought to be high:· Rosalind is played by Rosalie Craig, who was last seen at the NT defying gravity in the whimsical musical “The Light Princess” by Tori Amos. The description of “rising star” seems appropriate.· The show is directed by Polly Findlay, who is known for her thoughtful stagings, including an inventive “Romeo and Juliet.”· Lizzie Clachan’s set features a truly breathtaking switch. The urban furniture of the first scenes is made to fly skyward on invisible wires to reveal an incredibly atmospheric Forest of Arden. The transformation is one of the best uses of the Olivier stage tower seen for some time.· Orlando Gough’s atmospheric music fits the songs such as “Under the Greenwood Tree” and adds disembodied harmonies. The eerie forest is also full of spooky birdsong, sighing winds, sad owls, and distant wolf calls.This number of starry names and admirable qualities augurs well. It’s a shame though about the stumbling, fumbling, bumbling start.Duke Frederick’s flamboyant court is represented by a soulless office. It could be the home for City traders, robotic industrial morons or Ricky Gervais’s character David Brent. Its horribleness is probably intended as a symbol of humdrum existence in 2015 but ends up being confusing.Why are the wealthy courtiers sitting in a drab windowless workroom? What’s the point of color-coded costumes which exactly match the carpet tiles? Why is the televised full-scale wrestling match staged in a tiny space between the computers and the photocopiers? What’s signified by the blasts of factory buzzers and heavy-metal riffs? Why has Orlando fallen on such hard times? Joe Bannister must be the first actor to play Sir Rowland’s son as a lowly office janitor, clutching a cleaning spray-gun in his hand. He proves to be more of a Mister Muscle later in the wrestling, leaving a watching Rosalind weak at the knees.The inauspicious and clunky overtone gives way to a clearer horizon as the forest opens up.While “As You Like It” is a Shakespeare comedy of course, the weirdness slows it down a little and takes away from some of the early laughs. The seriousness does however fit the tone of the measured “all the world’s a stage” speech, which Paul Chahidi handles well with naturalistic hesitation. Jacques is thinking aloud on what the seven stages of man are, searching out the words as he goes.Rosalind is one of Shakespeare’s greatest female roles, with a huge amount of stage time. She’s rarely away for long. Craig does an outstanding job, right through to the final speech. (“It is not the fashion to see the lady the epilogue” is a line from 1599 which is still barbed now.) Craig also forms a powerful double act with Patsy Ferran, who is wonderfully down-to-earth and matter-of-fact as Celia.My only gripe is that Craig seems a little too cooly self-assured to be madly in love. You’d expect immense frisson as Rosalind encounters the banished Orlando. He has been plastering green leaf-like Post-it notes proclaiming his desire - pilfered from the Gervais-style office no doubt - over ever tree he can find. There isn’t so much eroticism, even given the initial sexual confusion with Rosalind pretending to be a man. Even when the truth is out, the lovers are polite rather than wildly passionate and she is busy organizing everyone else’s marriages too.You know how the Bard goes: tragedies end with a pile of bodies. Comedies conclude with bizarre couplings all over the place.In any “As You Like It” there are many quotable original lines (take your pick: much of Touchstone, Adam’s “though I look old, yet I am strong and lusty”). This production adds a host of visual gags, with the best being the flock of human “sheep” slowly munching their way through Orlando’s doggerel.The further we get from the humorless recreation of “The Office,” the more the play settles into its stride of rich comedy. It’s worth enduring the first 15 minutes: this is ultimately a highly entertaining “As You Like It” to like.Continues at the National Theatre until March 5, 2016.On February 25 it will be broadcast to more than 600 UK cinemas and others worldwide as part of National Theatre Live http://www.ntlive.com.
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