I’m sure that when the RSC have decided to put As You Like It and The Winter’s Tale into the schedules together, they did so because there are clear parallels between of the themes and ideas in both plays.

It would make sense, with an ensemble company working together for two years, to explore some of the links between the two plays in the two productions. However, this is not necessarily the case, because the ensemble has been split into two companies to work on the two plays and have different directors – Michael Boyd for As You Like It and David Farr for The Winter’s Tale. So while in some cases the audience, who are often likely to visit both, may make their own links between the two productions there are differences in creative decisions and approaches as well.

Both sets give the impression of timeless worlds that could be anywhere (like the set of Twelfth Night in the Theatre Royal, York production see earlier blog entry). The sets represent the disintegration of society and at points reflect the state of characters’ minds. As the plays progress the structures they inhabit start to fall apart. The Winter’s Tale opens in the library, and the audience is reminded of learning and wisdom, which should be about being rationale and common sense. The play starts with a formal dinner party, but as the relationships between the characters break down the set falls apart as the play progresses. There is a surprise which Miching Malicho won’t spoil in this blog. There is a similar effect as the set transforms through As You Like it, and the Court of Duke Frederick (Sandy Neilson) feels clinical and cold. When the audience enter the Courtyard Theatre they are faced with a tiled backdrop and stage floor The cast entering doing a formal dance in stiff Elizabethan costumes. As As You Like It progresses the set opens up as the characters open up their minds and traps in the floor and the tiles in the back of the set open. In The Winter’s Tale the traps and flies are used to great effect particularly in the second half.

Corin (Geoffrey Freshwater) skinning his rabbit on stage as the audience return from the interval break is a reminder of the violence and brutality that is present in the two plays. Hermione (Kelly Hunter) stands with her dress stained by the blood of birth as she is accused by husband in the trial scene. Servants enter Duke Frederick’s court with blood on their faces, clearly beaten for hiding the departure e of Celia and Rosalind. The Duke keeps a wrestler so he can inflict pain on others and the fight between Charles (David Carr) and Orlando (JonJo O’Neill) is a savage affair.

The response of characters to this abuse is not always passive. Herminoe is angry as she defends herself in her trial and Paulina (Noma Dumezweni) shows fury at the way the queen has been treated. There is so much humanity in the plays to counteract the turbulence. In As You Like It, Orlando will look after the old servant Adam (Peter Shorey) at all costs, protecting him like a child. He enters the stage carrying him just as Jacques finishes the ‘Seven ages of Man’ speech becoming a visual reminder of age. In The Winter’s Tale, Hermione is really content in her pregnancy and she delights in her young son as he tells his ‘sad tale for winter’. There is a strong bond between Rosalind (Katy Stephens) and Celia (Mariah Gale). Rosalind transforms herself into a boy by stripping off the formality represented by the black dress and letting her hair down. The thinly drawn moustache seems to emphasise her femininity and reminds us that she is just playing a man and is a woman. She is the one that leads in the woods, and draws Celia around in the handcart supporting her cousin. Touchstone maakes us laugh as he takes Celia’s place in the cart to be dragged off stage via the traverse by an unknowing Rosalind.

After all, As You Like It is a comedy and though a tragedy in the first part The Winter’s Tale becomes a comedy in the second part. Orlando has wooed Rosalind with the verses strewn across the audience and on the roads outside the theatre. The audience have been invited to write more as part of a RSC competition. They are invited into the marriage feast at the end of As You Like It as ribbons are presented to audience members. The production has moved through time and we are now up to date. In The Winter’s Tale the marriage of Perdita and Florizel bring young love back to the decaying court of Sicilia.

Hermione’s statue is ashen white bathed in light. On her face are the lines of time and as she comes back to life it feels as if she thaws and melts into her human form. it is a very moving scene watched by the audience through the eyes of the mesmerized courtiers and royal family on stage.

Both RSC productions take the audience through space and time. As time passes and the performances develop, the structure of the theatre will change on the move to Newcastle in the autumn, so I would be interested to see how these two productions will mature and transform as the ensemble get to know each other better and maybe utilise the connections between the two plays even further.

 

Production Details

 

As You Like It Greg Hicks Katy Stephens Mariah Gale RSC The Winter's Tale