The stiff fabric and rigid corsetry of Tom Piper’s stunning Elizabethan dress says everything about the restriction of the court. The colour is black, the faces are pale, the stylised courtly movement is forbidding and even the distinctly Pythonesque Touchstone (Richard Katz) is imprisoned in the semblance of a straitjacket.
He wears clown’s shoes as well though, as a hint that all is not lost. Katy Stephens’ vibrant, energetic and devilish Rosalind was born to be an outdoor girl, and the shedding of the court dress brings more than just symbolic relief for her and for Mariah Gale’s lovely and vulnerable Celia.
Dress speaks volumes for others too. There’s a wickedly scene-stealing entrance when Sophie Russell’s long-legged Audrey, cleaned up for the wedding, totters on in an impossibly tight skirt and unfamiliar stilettos. She manages to get up on stage without bending her knees, a sublime moment that brings the house down.
It’s all as clear as a bell, a flawless, thoughtful and beautifully-paced production that exploits the Courtyard space to the full. Jonjo O’Neill’s Irishness makes him a fiery rebel and a droll swain as he clasps his guitar and sits lovelorn, dangling one leg from high up in the multi-purpose facade with its myriad opening doors.
The golden light of the Forest of Arden steals in to obliterate all the traces of the old life, and the final pageant is as warm and rustic as they come.
Production information can change over the run of the show.
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