Date: Fri 14-Jul-1995

Publication: Bee

Author: SHANNO

Illustration: C

Quick Words:

Players-As

Full Text:

SHAKESPEARE HANDLED WITH APLOMB

(with header & dropquote, no cuts)

B Y  J ULUE  S TERN

Over the last year and a half, I had already seen two productions of

Shakespeare's As You Like It - at Yale (lavishly mounted) and at D'ART

(economy class) - and I know that it is scheduled for Long Wharf's 1995-96

season, so it was with serious trepidation that we went to see the Newtown

Town Players' rendition, currently being offered at the Little Theatre through

July 22. Having seen it, however, all I can now say is that I hope they

consider extending the run at least into August.

Director Ruth Ann Baumgartner, who wove such comic magic last year with her

version of Midsummer Night's Dream , demonstrates once again that she really

knows what she is doing. Ms Baumgartner gives all the credit to the

performers, saying modestly, "I have a very good cast to work with." That is

true, but perhaps it is what she does with them that makes them so ready to

work for her.

Using a combination of new and familiar performers, including many of those

who did such an outstanding job in Midsummer Night's Dream , Ms Baumgartner

accomplishes the following:

She demonstrates that Shakespeare can be more appealing on a very small stage

because the audience achieves greater intimacy with the performers;

She shows that Shakespearian language can be made perfectly accessible if the

actors are properly coached in their delivery and timing (even the most

courtly and poetic lines need not come across as stilted and heavy);

She delineates all the characters clearly, so that even audiences who are

unfamiliar with the play can respond to the wit and satire with intelligent

recognition.

The story is the typical stuff of Shakespearian comedy: because of the wicked

mechaninations of his jealous brother and her ursurping uncle, brave young

Orlando and lovely young Rosalind are each separately banished from the

genteel society of courtly life to the wilderness of the Forest of Arden,

where all noble but persecuted exiles are hanging out and living the simple

life. The plot entails getting this young couple together and restoring all

the good guys to their former estates, as well as marrying off various

secondary and tertiary couples to their proper soulmates.

The lead parts are played to perfection by Lucy Babbitt and her real-life

husband, Mark Frattaroli, and the chemistry between them is charming.

According to the program notes, the pair met while playing the leads in

another Shakespearean comedy, The Taming of the Shrew . Perhaps Ms Baumgartner

would consider bringing them back to Newtown in that capacity next year.

As noted, every one of the players does a first-rate job, but I was

particularly delighted with several. The giggling sense of cousinly conspiracy

supplied by Michelle Duncan as Rosalind's loyal best friend Celia is clear and

convincing. Next, Rob Pawlikowski takes the role of Jacques - Shakespeare's

satirical caricature of romantic melancholy - and turns him into the sort of

appealing neurotic that modern audiences can understand and identify with.

Unlike all the other young people in the forest, Jacques has no time for

falling in love because he is too absorbed with his own depression, but he is

so clever and interesting about it all that his friends get a kick out of him.

Also, Patrick Spaulding as Touchstone, the jester who accompanies the two

young women on their exile, is able to combine the clowning and verbal antics

of a court comedian with a more natural characterization as a man as lusty as

the next once he finds himself in the more natural world of shepherds and

shepherdesses. When Touchstone and Jacques get into a "philosophical"

discussion, Spaulding and Pawlikowski capture the audience's attention because

they are each so clearly and understandably what they are.

Finally, of all the productions of As You Like It that I have seen, this one

has the best and most extensive use of music, most (but not all) of which

comes in the singing of Laura Evans, who plays Amiens, an attendant to the

exiled good duke. Perhaps it is because the acoustics of the Little Theatre

are very good, but Evans' voice was lovely to the point of being thrilling.

Whenever she sings, the audience sits stock still, as if hoping it will go on

forever.

The only thing I would want to see changed is that when doing a full-length

Shakespearian (or any other production that runs close to three hours),

perhaps the Town Players would consider switching to an 8 pm curtain.

The Town Players of Newtown will continue presenting As You Like It through

July 22. Curtain is Friday and Saturday evenings at 8:30 pm, and all tickets

are $10 for general admission seating. Call 270-9144 for details.