ashleypowell

As in "A Midsummer Night's Dream," "Hamlet" and "Antony and Cleopatra," Shakespeare in "As You Like It" is able to join disparate elements in unusual proportion into a unified whole of tone and mood which may be rationalized but never completely explained. What I love about this play is the way in which it develops a conventionally suspenseful plot--complete with goodies and baddies, action-packed scuffles and wrestling matches, lovers "meeting cute," etc.--at breakneck speed for all of the first act, and then slows to something close to a halt once it reaches the Forest of Arden. This is as it should be, since this forest is a place of magical transformation just as certainly as Oberon and Titania's fairie wood, a place where time stops and love grows and both are discussed and exemplified in language both witty and profound. At the end, all plot strands are resolved in what should be an unsatisfactory fashion, but somehow still manages to satisfy not only the characters themselves but also the audience, who have both been transformed by the timeless experience of Arden.

2022-11-14 18:26