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Much of Shakespeare’s comedic corpus illudes me, but I am also of the belief that anything written by the bard builds character. What could be more typical of his vision than a play of gender reversal and improbable love relationships ending in not one but four weddings?

As You Like It contains not only the often-quoted “all the world’s a stage,” which incidentally I found delivered without the power it COULD evoke although the rest of Jacques’ speech and Anthony Reid’s overall performance was absolutely delightful, but also one of my favourite monologues – when Phoebe, played by Sarah Swift, attempts to convince Silvius, played by Paul Hardy, tht she is not in love with Rosalind’s male persona. Sarah Swift provided a magnificent performance of a stunning, yet difficult segment of script that made the almost three hour performance worth attending in and of itself.

The rest of the audience seemed particularly impressed with the opening wrestling match, in which Orlando, played by Tyrone Savage, delivers an unexpected move (I won’t spoil the fun) to win both the match and Rosalind’s heart. I found this staging problematic – that a “low blow” would inspire such admiration from a lady at court was a little more than I could let slip by. I agreed with many of the Lada Darewych’s (the director) other calls, just not this one.

Kristina Stanclik and Evelyn Wiseman gave good performances of Rosalind and Celia respectively. The former had participated in a Ryerson fourth year RTA project, and thus earned my almost instant approval, but her gait and bearing were not convincing – room for improvement rather than outright criticism on my part. Her yellow, shift dress in the opening scenes emphasized a poor posture not fitting of her character and in the last dance scene she was the only actor who appeared outright uncomfortable moving on stage. Practice makes perfect and I am hopeful that even by the end of the show’s run she may correct this. Wiseman’s portrayal of Celia took me by surprise and until the second act I couldn’t resign myself to the exaggerated facial expressions and nasal voice that the rest of the audience appeared to delight in. Perhaps this demonstrates more my own inappreciation for Shakespeare’s comedies than anything else because by the scene in which she futilely endeavours to get some sleep but is unceasingly interrupted by lovers on stage, I too was laughing.

Philosopher’s Stage may no longer be a venue for outdoor performances in downtown Toronto next summer. I highly recommend attending this season (July 16-August 2). The venue opens at 7:30pm with performances from Wednesday to Saturday at 8pm. Pricey, although keeping with Toronto’s expected ticket prices of $10 for adults and $8 for students, Wednesdays are PWYC. Bring a blanket and enjoy the brief musical performances throughout the play, the completely appropriate modern adaptation and the over-the-top staging.