As You Like It Reviews: critics agree it’s a delightful romp that stays in the shallow end

“By making every character as vivid as possible, visually and personality-wise, it’s just a great, boisterous production where you don’t find yourself questioning ‘and who is THAT guy?’”

“From Lola Shalam’s high strung romantic lead Rosalind and Gracie Oddie-James as her amusingly laidback posh girl BFF Celia to co-director Josephine’s own turn as insecure wannabe geezer Orlando, all the way to Jonathan Broadbent’s scene-stealing Touchstone who rocks a look I can only describe as ‘French gimp’, it is simply very fun to spend some time in Wills’ whiteboard forest with these people.”

“Globe deputy Holmes is just very good with Shakespeare’s comedies and finding a nice halfway point between the Bard’s sensibilities and more ironic modern ones.”

“This As You Like It is a burst of late summer sun.”

“The Globe has a knack, unmatched, for finding the humour where other productions lumber past, and this production is no exception”

“It’s Shalam’s friendship with Gracie Oddie-James‘ Celia that feels particularly alive. They might not pass the Bechdel test – there’s an awful lot of chat about boys – but Celia and Rosalind’s friendship is central to the plot, and feels more important than the various romantic couplings.”

“The plot is filled with an array of ancillary characters, and where in other productions they would be at best forgettable, at worst an added confusion to the already muddled plot, here they bring more joy.”

“In the first half, still at court, Wills’ Roccoco-style costumes are so ridiculously lavish [...] we’ve no need for anything else to distract the eye. And in the second half, we are entirely at the performance’s disposal, and the backdrop is neither here nor there.”

“The music, as always at the Globe, is the cherry on top.”

“a perfect pageant to see us past the end of summer.”

“Even if it doesn’t always convince emotionally, this pacy production, which leans into the play’s bawdy humour, is still rambunctious fun.”

“Co-directors Sean Holmes and Charlie Josephine (who also plays Orlando) have created two visually distinct worlds. Before the characters flee to the idyllic Forest of Arden, the action begins in Duke Frederick’s stifling, corrupt court.”

“When we shift to Arden – with characters lounging around carefree munching on apples – trees (and blossom when the lovers unite) are painted onto the canvases. While attractive, the effect is oddly distancing, and never for one second did I feel immersed in a forest setting.”

“Paul Wills’s striking costumes are more successful.”

“the highlight is the gossipy rapport between two female friends, with Gracie Oddie-James’s spirited, breezy Celia teasing an uptight Rosalind (Lola Shalam) about her crush on Orlando. The pair share some of the show’s funniest moments. With comically exaggerated expressions, Oddie-James is a scene-stealer, which is refreshing given that Celia often feels so sidelined.”

“It’s a shame, then, that the central romantic pairing never ignites.”

“Holmes and Josephine’s staging doesn’t concern itself with As You Like It’s emotional depths. [...] Instead, peppered with audience sing-alongs and folk music, this evening of “rustic revelry” will send audiences out on a giddy high.”

“Crazy Restoration wigs and courtly capers mark the opening of the Globe’s latest production of As You Like It, introducing a world of colourful intrigue and aristocratic absurdity.”

“In their staging of the cross-dressing pastoral comedy, the co-directors, Sean Holmes and Charlie Josephine, inject a distinct flavour of Wes Anderson into the scenes at the dastardly Duke Frederick’s court.”

“How do you make such a staple of the summer repertoire shine? Here, in no small part through music and design.”

“The true test of a Globe production at full throttle is the performance of its minor characters and while there are weak links there are also gems.”

“This remains one of the more magical ways of celebrating London’s fading summer.”

“This production of the Bard’s pastoral comedy begins the dress-up long before its characters enter the forest for their games on gender and identity.”

“Class delineations are made deftly through costume and accent but with no sense of overstatement.”

“The forest has a stripped-down nature, with whiteboard backdrops on to which trees are drawn, first bare-branched but slowly coloured in to bloom. Paul Wills’ set design provides so much of Arden’s magic, along with the folksy musical accompaniment to Shakespeare’s many songs composed by Katie Richardson.”

“Although the comedy entertains, it takes away the play’s subversive edges, from the same-sex infatuation between Orlando and Ganymede to the alternative model for living that Duke Senior (also Gormley) encapsulates, in exile, and which seems a little lost among the fun.”

“The production occasionally seems unclear in its action, although, what you lose in narrative clarity you gain in hearty comic frolics.”