As You Like It

When unjust rulers erode our sense of community for selfish political ends, running off to start a better society in the woods feels like an enticing option. Though we might all sometimes wish for an Arden of our own, few daydreams are as vivid or vivacious as the setting for Shaina Taub and Laurie Woolery’s big-hearted adaptation of As You Like It.

Full of spectacle and silliness, their version is an all-but sung-through musical with a huge, inclusive cast. It’s an ambitious project, programmed as part of the National Theatre’s Public Acts initiative, which creates large-scale theatre with community groups, actors and non-professional performers.

Director Douglas Rintoul makes themes of equality central to his production, and though much of the modernised text feels clunky, the updated beats of the story are clear, relatable and moving. Substantial segments of Shakespeare’s original text still dominate the script, with his most-quotable lines repurposed as pithy song lyrics.

Taub’s score is a catchy collection of pop melodies given a little bite with infrequent bursts of shredding, rocky guitars. Snippets of other, more varied, musical styles float through the mix, from silky soul hooks to tonally layered traditional singing styles and thunderous dhol drumming.

Ebony Jonelle heads the cast as a compellingly nuanced Rosalind – witty, wise and walking a fine line between self-analysis and self-sabotage. She demonstrates a powerful, melodic voice in several of the show’s best songs, from a wonderfully tense track highlighting the disguised dangers of court life, to a stonking rejoinder to Linford Johnson’s likeably lovelorn Orlando in which she cheekily demolishes his idealised vision of her.

Rohan Reckord has a pared-down role as Duke Senior, but nonetheless radiates warmth and quiet kindness whenever he’s on the stage, a man who’s literally left his cares behind him. Meanwhile, Beth Hinton-Lever is a strident, spiky but strangely vulnerable Jaques – less a melancholy intellectual, more a self-proclaimingly woke student struggling to find something she truly believes in.

Under Sundeep Saini’s uncompromising choreography, mass dances, boisterous wrestling bouts and hyperactive crowd scenes break out beneath a canopy of rainbow-coloured ribbons. With an ensemble so large, the stage can become congested at times. But with waltzing wheelchairs and kids scuttling and weaving among the massed ranks of singers, there’s a real carnival feel – packed, sweaty and oversaturated with noise and colour, but joyful and energising too.

It’s a significant achievement in itself that while each performer’s technical ability may differ, everyone here is confident and committed. They’re clearly having a great time, and that infectious mood carries the audience along with it. Warm, fun and accessible, it’s just the way community-led theatre should feel.

Emily Lim: the rising star putting the nation into the National Theatre