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A Fresh Touch for a Shakespearean Classic By KEITH MCDONALD
The third-year actors shuffle into the familiar rehearsal studio—some chatting, some eating, some with coffee in hand—all anxious to start their final show, which will bring them onto the stage of the Drama Theater for the first time. The play is William Shakespeare's comedy As You Like It, and the year is … 1983? That's right: the Drama Division's Group 14 (which included current faculty member Ralph Zito) performed As You Like It for their final production that year. And this month, Zito—who is head of voice and speech for the Drama Division—will be making his Julliard directing debut with his favorite Shakespearean play and the current crop of third-year drama students, Group 35. It is an understatement to say that Zito has an extensive knowledge of the play. In addition to his own 1983 performance of As You Like It, Zito has assisted in coaching voice and text for the play at the Shakespeare Theater in Washington, D.C., and has been the vocal coach for the play at the New Jersey Shakespeare Festival and at Juilliard. He also directed it with the Chautauqua Conservatory Theater Company.
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| A set model for the third-year drama production of As You Like It by designer Troy Hourie. |
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For this month's production of As You Like It, the play has been cut and reordered by Zito, who focuses his revision on answering the questions, "Why do Rosalind and Orlando fall in love? And how does that love endure and grow?" He explains that he didn't want to take the answers for granted. The work is now structured and intercut so that the audience clearly sees why and how they fall in love—experiencing Orlando's and Rosalind's stories at the same time, with half the stage being used to show Rosalind's story and the other half devoted to Orlando's. "Plus, I thought it would be fun to have a fresh approach to a great old tale," adds Zito.The play centers around a young girl, Rosalind, who is banished by her uncle as he usurps power over the dukedom from her father. Donning men's clothing as a disguise, Rosalind leaves for the Forest of Arden, accompanied by her cousin Celia and Touchstone, the court fool. In the forest she finds her true love, Orlando, who is also running away from his tyrant brother. Shakespeare, true to form, places true love right under the noses of his characters. Interestingly, Rosalind, disguised as the masculine Ganymede, fools not only Orlando, but also all in the forest."It's less about gender and more about an event that allows someone to break out of a narrowly defined role, gender or otherwise," explains Zito. "Rosalind, in her disguise, is essentially neither a boy nor a girl, and has to start to reinvent her life. In doing so, something happens and she causes all those around her to do the same." Zito says this is why the cross-gender comedies are his favorites.This production focuses on a certain kind of magic that exists between and around people when such events take place—but not the sort that involves "pulling a rabbit out of a hat and flying around on broomsticks," explains third-year student Sean Davis. Rather, Zito and his cast are exploring ways to bring out the extraordinary magic of human interaction—for example, between Rosalind and her cousin Celia (who share a love "dearer than the natural bond of sisters"), as well as Rosalind and Orlando.The traditional image of a forest and its magic often provides a setting for fairy tales—a place that heroes or heroines visit, the home of many fantastical creatures. The Forest of Arden in As You Like It is home to Duke Senior, Rosalind's usurped father, and his "old court" of "co-mates in exile," including the melancholy Jacques (who famously philosophizes that all the world is a stage and all the men and woman merely players). In some productions, the forest's denizens have been played as a gathering of exiled hippies or a commune of free-thinking men. This production seeks to balance those concepts with the idea that the forest is a magical place that manifests what you want. Zito and his cast come to this conclusion about the nature of the forest through the interaction of certain characters with it: The old shepherd, Corin, for instance, is a wise man or shaman who gains much knowledge from the forest and functions accordingly. On the other hand, Oliver, Orlando's tyrant brother, encounters snakes and lions there.
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Shakespeare: As You Like It
Drama Theater
Tuesday-Wednesday, May 10-11; Saturday-Sunday, May 14-15, 8 p.m.
For ticket information, please see
the calendar.
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The distinction between the "old court" of enlightened thought and civility and the "new court" of high-tech efficiency is made clear in the set and costumes. The "old court," seen briefly in the prologue, is wooden and full of tapestries. The "new court" is littered with Palm Pilots and cell phones, along with a very stark, metallic, steel-and-concrete look for the set. The "old court" costumes seen in the forest are colonial-looking, but with a twist. The "new court" clothing is very minimalist, with little or no decoration.As You Like It will also be presented in special morning performances for area public middle- and high-school students, who are busy studying the play as part of Lincoln Center Theater's educational outreach program. "I'm looking forward to doing the show for the students," says third-year student Nick Mayo. "It's a little scary, but they are probably closer to the Elizabethan audiences that first viewed Shakespeare's show at the Globe in London." In talking about the play with Zito and the cast, the idea of opening up one's heart and seeing the true magic that is all around us recurs as the predominant theme. Every character in the play will undergo some sort of introspection upon meeting with Rosalind in the forest, and a change will result. All turns out for the better—but Zito assures us that there will be some surprises along the way. But, like a good magician, he cannot reveal all of his secrets. Keith McDonald is a third-year drama student.
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