As You Like It
2011: Kymberly Mellen, Vance Mellen
This is indeed an odd one. It’s in most respects an amateur production, and it’s filmed with rudimentary technology, using (apparently) hand-held video cameras or at most elementary dollies; it’s a modern-dress version set in the Colorado Rockies. The costumes are contemporary, and the accents make no attempts to be British.
For all that, there’s an infectious engagement in the performances, and it’s played and shot with understanding of the basic story. It manages to draw the audience into its unique matrix of silliness and seriousness in spite of its material limitations. I wouldn’t recommend this as anyone’s first encounter with the play (for that I’d probably recommend the BBC Shakespeare version of 1978). But it goes a long way to show how fantastically adaptable Shakespeare is in the hands of actors who get what they’re saying, and believe in the story.
It’s not free of imperfections. There are a few gaffes that transgress plausibility. The aged servant Adam, who protests that he’ll do the service of a younger man, can’t be over thirty. There are few other compromises of this sort. But it’s definitely worth watching. The manufacturers claim that it’s specifically been made for high school and college literature classes. One could do worse.
Adam: Patrick Newman
Amiens: Kris Paries
Audrey: Lena Latu
Celia: Anne Shakespeare
Charles the Wrestler: Matt Gallacher
Corin: Magarin Hobson
Duke Frederick: Bradley Moss
Duke Senior: Vance Mellen
Jaques: Matt Christensen
Le Beau: Jon Low
Oliver: Adam Meyers
Orlando: Ben Isaacs
Phebe: Mia Selway
Rosalind: Ashley Bonner
Silvius: Gabriel Spencer
Touchstone: Graham Ward
William: Jonathan Inman
Watch As You Like It on streaming video from Amazon