Shakespeare’s "As You Like It” On the Green at Griffith Park

Richard Schulenberg

Special to the Mirror

   I have now witnessed three productions in a row of William Shakespeare's "As You Like It" set in the 1960s. Something of a trend may be building here, although I thought Retro had moved on to the 70s. The latest production is from the company Shakespeare On the Green -- sort of the resident company for Griffith Park's Old Zoo Site -- back for their second summer at the site. 
   Arguably the sweetest of Shakespeare's comedies, "As You Like It" deals with two sets of brothers, each having one brother usurp the other, and a whole bunch of people falling madly in love at first sight. The plot of "As You Like It" requires some explaining and a lot of suspension of disbelief, it goes roughly as follows (don't worry if you lose the thread, it's not that important):
   Young Orlando (Kirk Enochs) has been denied his inheritance by his older brother, Oliver (James James). Meanwhile, Duke Frederick (Justin Dunne) has tossed out his older brother, Duke [who does not seem to have any other name, unless, while still in office he was referred to as Duke Duke - not to be confused with James James, above] (Stephan Early) who has moved into the Forest of Arden with his own band of (with one exception) merry men. That exception is Jaques (Michael Kroeker) who most certainly is not merry. Are you with me so far?
Back at the Court, Duke Duke's daughter, Rosalind (Beverly Sotelo) and Duke Frederick's daughter, Celia (Tasha Wenger), who are bosom buddies, meet Orlando, who has come to the Court to wrestle the local champion. Orlando and Rosalind see each other and, bang, love at first sight. Orlando wups the champ, ticks off Duke Frederick by being the son of one of Duke Duke's friends, and flees into the forest with his old geezer of a family servant, Adam (Raleigh Scovel).
   Duke Frederick now boots Rosalind out of the Court and she too heads for the forest with Celia, who sticks by her best friend and cousin even though her dad has promised her the dukedom when he moves on. Presumably for amusement, they bring along the court jester, Touchstone (Charles C. Nickerson) and, to escape the wrath of Duke Frederick, they, but not Touchstone, change their identities. Rosalind puts her hair up in a bandana and announces she is a guy named Ganymede and Celia changes her dress and announces she is Ganymede's sister, Aliena. These disguises are so impenetrable that neither Orlando nor Duke Duke recognize the two girls.
   While in the forest, Rosalind and Celia meet a young couple, Silvius (Zach Hanks), a shepherd who is madly in love with Phebe (Kiersten Van Horne), a shepherdess. Phebe takes one look at Rosalind/Ganymede and, bang!, falls in love with her/him. In the meantime, Touchstone, meets Audrey (Suzan Spann) and, bang!, falls in love (or at least lust) with her. While all this is going on, Orlando is running about the forest tacking bad love poetry on every tree in honor of Rosalind.
   Rosalind, as Ganymede, convinces Orlando to let he/her teach him how to woo Rosalind. Then Oliver, Orlando's brother shows up and the two brothers reconcile. Oliver and Celia meet and, (you guessed it) bang!, they fall in love at first sight. Rosalind contrives to trick Phebe into marrying Silvius and, ultimately, all the couples get married. Orlando and Oliver's other brother shows up with the happy news that Duke Frederick, while invading the forest, met a hermit and, bang!, fell in love with the idea of also becoming a hermit and has restored the dukedom to his older brother. Let's face it. Plot is not one of Shakespeare's strong points. But what of this production?
   The large cast is uneven but mostly more than adequate for the job. One particular bright spot, no fake British speech affectations -- the bane of far too many American productions -- and the cast seemed comfortable with the language. Congratulations to director Rajan Dosaj for pulling off both of these miracles. I did, in fact, enjoy this production, especially for its energy and pace.
   Beverly Sotelo's Rosalind has a nice spunky quality to it, but I was diappointed when she assumed her disguise as the boy Ganymede. While a spunky Rosalind is cool, an un-butch Ganymede is a bummer. I liked Tasha Wenger's Celia, a Celia with some backbone, except I became increasing puzzled by some of the acting choices -- did she have to come on to anyone in pants and what on earth was the reason for the constant nipping at a flask? 
   The constant tipping of the hat to "Hair" to set the period was fun once, amusing twice, and by the end, a bit overdone. Ultimately, the 60s weren't evoked, they were presented as a cardboard cut-out. A Pity. Louis Fantasia's wonderful production of "As You Like It" about a year and a half ago at the Tracy Roberts Studio also was set in the 1960s, but it stayed there in the Summer of Love and didn't wander -- the actual songs from the play were sung and performed by a Bob Dylan look and sound alike; Duke Frederick was Richard Nixon, played by an actor who looked and sounded like Nixon (and didn't yell), who was surrounded by secret service men in suits and dark glasses; the Forest of Arden became Haight Ashbury populated by hippies, etc. Now, that was the 60s.
   This production is still worth seeing. The setting couldn't be better for the Forest of Arden, a natural amphitheater with a little creek bed running through the middle, with actors appearing out of the trees and scampering on boulders. This beautiful location is perfect for blankets and picnics and for "As You Like It." Go see it, you probably will like it. 
   William Shakespeare's "As You Like It", directed by Rajan Dosaj at the Old Zoo Site (off of Griffith Park Drive) in Griffith Park. Saturdays and Sundays through August 29, at 4:00 PM. Tickets: Free.