Playwright: William Shakespeare

At: Writers’ Theatre, 325 Tudor, Glencoe

Phone: 847-242-6000; $45-$58

Runs through: April 13

BY JONATHAN ABARBANEL

Sometimes a critic doesn’t like a production that’s executed with intelligence, skill and attention to detail. The critic may take exception to the script itself or disagree with the director’s interpretation. So it is with As You Like It. Will Shakespeare’s script is dandy, so my quibble is with director William Brown, a very fine actor who’s become a very fine director.

What’s wrong with me? Well, I miss the comedic and romantic highs in this romantic comedy, given a very subdued interpretation by Brown. He’s not only reined in the histrionics to suit the intimate 104-seat playhouse, but he’s restricted the show’s physical and emotional colors, too. Except for Rosalind’s first dress, there’s scarcely a hint of any bright color in the costumes, most of which fall in the neutral brown/beige range. Emotionally, the production follows suit. There are few laughs and no big laughs despite an abundance of comic material which often has been staged to raucous effect. On the other end, the scenes between lovers Orlando and Rosalind—disguised as a boy—lack soaring romanticism and/or the ambiguous genderfuck edge (except for one or two moments) for which the play’s famous.

I’m not suggesting a director must hew to a standard interpretation. I understand what’s being done. Brown takes his brief from the play’s wintry Acts I and II (remember, Shakespeare’s plays as published are divided into five acts). Act I shows life under a paranoid, despotic duke who has overthrown his kinder older brother. Act II finds the former duke in rural wintertime exile, his famous first words being ‘Sweet are the uses of adversity.’ Director David H. Bell took a similar wintry cue in a lavish Chicago Shakespeare Theater production three years ago.

But there’s a middle ground I feel is missing in this carefully-spoken, carefully-measured, well-manicured production. Its modern dress look (Rachel Anne Healy costumes) and scenic nod to Romanticism (by Keith Pitts) are effective, and the show has grace and charm. But it never quite catches fire and certainly never boils over, content to bubble and simmer from time to time. Even Andrew Hansen’s original music is lovely but understated in Shakespeare’s most musical play.

Brown’s cast features such very good familiar actors as Ross Lehman (a suave Touchstone), Larry Yando (Jaques as an elegant, aging beatnik), Kevin Asselin (an edgy Oliver), Tracy Michelle Arnold (a trim drag Rosalind), Carol Kuykendall (Audrey, female clown and fine singer) and Nancy Moricette (rustic Phebe with rich, Jamaican accent). New to me are Marcus Truschinski (boyish yet manly Orlando) and Eric Parks (fine clowning as Silvius). I greatly respect their work and both the intelligence and elegance of Brown’s interpretation; however, alas, it’s not as I like it.