I just had a great night at the new La Boite production of William Shakespeare's "As You Like It". Inventive, active and exciting, this production shone with a great wrestling match, impressive acting, involved authentic audience participation and a surprise lifting set that glittered with colour, fairy lights and lanterns. The large cast also included some graduating acting students along with the seasoned actors strutting their stuff. Full of sexual confusion, cross-dressing, some sexy players and much appreciated humour and music, it was a full night that thrilled the large crowd. The physical stage presence of Thomas Larkin (the hair) is heroically impressive.
All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players,
They have their exits and entrances,
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages. At first the infant,
Mewling and puking in the nurse's arms.
Then, the whining schoolboy with his satchel
And shining morning face, creeping like snail
Unwillingly to school. And then the lover,
Sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad
Made to his mistress' eyebrow. Then a soldier,
Full of strange oaths, and bearded like the pard,
Jealous in honour, sudden, and quick in quarrel,
Seeking the bubble reputation
Even in the cannon's mouth. And then the justice
In fair round belly, with good capon lin'd,
With eyes severe, and beard of formal cut,
Full of wise saws, and modern instances,
And so he plays his part. The sixth age shifts
Into the lean and slipper'd pantaloon,
With spectacles on nose, and pouch on side,
His youthful hose well sav'd, a world too wide,
For his shrunk shank, and his big manly voice,
Turning again towards childish treble, pipes
And whistles in his sound. Last scene of all,
That ends this strange eventful history,
Is second childishness and mere oblivion,
Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.
And all the men and women merely players,
They have their exits and entrances,
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages. At first the infant,
Mewling and puking in the nurse's arms.
Then, the whining schoolboy with his satchel
And shining morning face, creeping like snail
Unwillingly to school. And then the lover,
Sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad
Made to his mistress' eyebrow. Then a soldier,
Full of strange oaths, and bearded like the pard,
Jealous in honour, sudden, and quick in quarrel,
Seeking the bubble reputation
Even in the cannon's mouth. And then the justice
In fair round belly, with good capon lin'd,
With eyes severe, and beard of formal cut,
Full of wise saws, and modern instances,
And so he plays his part. The sixth age shifts
Into the lean and slipper'd pantaloon,
With spectacles on nose, and pouch on side,
His youthful hose well sav'd, a world too wide,
For his shrunk shank, and his big manly voice,
Turning again towards childish treble, pipes
And whistles in his sound. Last scene of all,
That ends this strange eventful history,
Is second childishness and mere oblivion,
Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.
Director David Berthold
Designer Renée Mulder
Lighting Designer David Walters
Composer and Sound Designer Guy Webster
Assistant Directors Heather Fairbairn and Steven Mitchell Wright
Designer Renée Mulder
Lighting Designer David Walters
Composer and Sound Designer Guy Webster
Assistant Directors Heather Fairbairn and Steven Mitchell Wright
Cast
Luke Cadden (Oliver), Helen Cassidy (Celia), Helen Howard (Rosalind), Thomas Larkin (Orlando), Kathryn Marquet(Phoebe), Dominic Nimo (Silvius), Bryan Probets (Touchstone), Hayden Spencer (Duke Frederick/Corin/Audrey), Trevor Stuart (Jaques/Adam) and Kate Wilson (Duke Senior).
Luke Cadden (Oliver), Helen Cassidy (Celia), Helen Howard (Rosalind), Thomas Larkin (Orlando), Kathryn Marquet(Phoebe), Dominic Nimo (Silvius), Bryan Probets (Touchstone), Hayden Spencer (Duke Frederick/Corin/Audrey), Trevor Stuart (Jaques/Adam) and Kate Wilson (Duke Senior).
and students/actors from QUT and Southbank Institute of Technology: Thomas Carney, Hanna Galbraith, Thomas Hutchins, Jordan Kadell, Lucy-Ann Langkilde, Jerome Meyer, Alec Snow and Mahala Wallace.
La Boite Theatre Company Brisbane Queensland
La Boite Theatre Company on Facebook
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