So, this is the Forest of Arden?

Well, actually it’s Kirkstall Abbey and it’s the British Shakespeare Company’s* production of As You Like It. Finally this week we have the weather to make open air theatre seem like a good idea. Though I have to admit the BSC’s version of ‘open air’ is much to my liking, as it involves cover for the audience, but not for the actors. The playing area is the grass in the Cloisters, and as I walk in I can’t help but think back to the Brideshead picnic. No champagne this time, though I do get myself a white wine, which I sip through the first half.

It’s a bit late starting as there are a few stragglers. When Rosalind and Celia enter, I notice that Celia’s dress is in desperate need of some maintenance, as there’s a big rip in the hem. It distracts me, as I keep thinking she’ll put her foot through it. It’s a relief when she changes into her ‘peasant’ dress. I like Rosalind, though she does do a lot of arm waving, I’m less keen on Celia. I think she’s trying for ‘feisty’ but it’s coming across as a bit bolshy, and she’s not my Celia. The wrestling scene is suitable hammed up and entertaining. Orlando is played by ‘Martin Fowler’ from East Enders, and he’s not bad. If that sounds like faint praise, it’s because I wasn’t expecting much.

We get to the Forest of Arden – the set is a couple of tents, some bales of straw and a few saplings in tubs, but effective – and Jacques launches in to ‘All the Worlds a Stage’. I love this speech, and as I say to Corinne later, I also love the fact that Shakespeare writes some of his best poetry simply to cover an entrance. Or, as in the last Act, the degrees of the lie is there to provide time for Rosalind and Celia to get changed. I like to think that Will worked out how much time was needed and wrote to order.

There are no great flashes of inspiration in the production, but its fun, and pleasant and the audience are enjoying it. I have a wander round at half time to stretch my legs, and feel for Corinne who’s dashing around behind what passes for the bar.

In Act 2, I begin to wonder why the peasant characters have turned Irish, but I do love Rosalind’s speeches to Orlando when she’s in disguise. Very soon, it’s over, and the audience misses their cue for applause as the actors begin to take their bows. Finally, it ends with fireworks exploding into the night sky.

*It always amuses me how different companies keep finding something to put in front of ‘Shakespeare. I’ve seen the RSC, the English Shakespeare Company, even the Reduced Shakespeare Company