As part of our Creative Stars participant development, we took the group to see a performance of As You Like It at Royal Exchange. Here’s Katies’s post about it all.
On Wednesday 3rd August we attended a performance of ‘As You Like It’ at the Royal Exchange. The performance used the original Shakespearenan script but had updated the costume and setting to a modern day equivalent. I felt that this was an excellent way of performing the play as it put it into context for a modern audience and made it much easy for me to follow the story.
The character of Rosalind was brilliantly acted out by actress Cush Jumbo, whose performance was at times hilarious and other times more heartfelt and serious. She inparticular did an amazing job of modernising her character which really made the play in my opinion. I also thoroughly enjoyed the perfomance of James Clyde, who was very comical and really put across the personality of his character very well.
Additionally, the way the actors interacted with the audience was also great as it made you feel part of the play, not simply an onlooker .The lighting, sound and props were all very well thought out, being strong enough to create a brilliant atmosphere while also being simple enough to not detract from the actor’s performances.
Overall I really loved the play and would definitely return to the Royal Exchange for other perfomances.
Written by Creative Star, Katie Harris (August 2011)