First Folio pays tribute to bonds of sisterhood in empowering 'As You Like It'
Somewhere, First Folio Theatre's Alison C. Vesely was smiling.
On Saturday, First Folio opened William Shakespeare's “As You Like It,” its first outdoor summer production without its artistic director, who co-founded the company with husband David Rice 20 years ago. Vesely passed away in November after a two-year battle with cancer, and the season is dedicated to her memory.
The clear, clement weather that accompanied the opening of this jolly ode to love, loyalty and kinship would have pleased Vesely. So would longtime ensemble member Kevin McKillip's acutely felt portrayal of the melancholy Jacques. First Folio newcomers Leslie Ann Sheppard, Vahishta Vafadari and Nicholas Harazin would have charmed her, and I imagine she would have approved of Skyler Schrempp's staging, which recalls the wit and warmth that characterized Vesely's own directorial efforts.
What I expect would have delighted Vesely most is the unabashed sense of female empowerment reflected in Schrempp's gender-conscious casting. Centered around the ingenious Rosalind - one of Shakespeare's most clever and independent characters - “As You Like It” is a proto-feminist tale of a woman who wins her beloved by upending convention and defying social norms.
But in this celebration of love in all its incarnations, Schrempp goes the Bard one better, casting women in roles long played by men. That includes the role of the deposed Duke Senior - compassionately played by Belinda Bremner - and her loyal advisers who find sanctuary from the corrupt court in the bucolic Forest of Arden.
Exiled like her mother by her usurper uncle (Philip Winston), the clever Rosalind (Sheppard) disguises herself as a young man named Ganymede. Together with her cousin and best friend Celia (Vafadari) and snarky court jester Touchstone (a properly cheeky Courtney Abbott in a role typically played by a male), the disguised Rosalind sets out for Arden, which set designer Angela Weber Miller suggests with Arcadian simplicity.
Upon settling into country life, Rosalind/Ganymede encounters the unschooled but earnest Orlando (Harazin), forced to flee the court by his inexplicably hostile brother Oliver (Luke Daigle). Smitten with Rosalind following their brief meeting at court, Orlando enlists Ganymede's help wooing his beloved.
The engaging Sheppard plays Rosalind with good judgment and just the right amount of girlishness, and Harazin's shrewd performance suggests a young man more perceptive than he seems. I got the impression Harazin's Orlando caught on to Rosalind's counterfeit and played along, as did the shepherd Corin (Matthew Moore), a provincial philosopher who holds his own opposite the cosmopolitan Touchstone.
Rosalind and Orlando are not the only would-be lovers inhabiting Arden. Lovesick shepherd Silvius (a charming Michael Angelo Smith) pines for the disinterested Phebe (a fierce, deliciously determined Sarah Wisterman), who only has eyes for Ganymede. Meanwhile, Touchstone develops an appreciation for the rustic after meeting the sweetly naive goatherd Audrey (Sierra Schnack). Even Celia and Oliver find romance.
The odd man out is McKillip's haunted, solitary Jacques, who remains apart from his merry companions. Despite their repeated attempts to entice him into the fold, Jacques dwells on its fringe. Perhaps it's the knowledge of the decline and sorrow that awaits all men and women - which McKillip so beautifully expresses in the famous “seven ages of man” soliloquy - that keeps him on the periphery, dreading the inevitable loss that comes from having loved.
Ultimately, “As You Like It” is a testament to love - passionate, affectionate, dutiful and indulgent. Love endures in spite of loss. And that is perhaps the most profound lesson in this empowering “As You Like It,” and one the First Folio family knows well.
“As You Like It”
★ ★ ★ ½
Location: First Folio Theatre, Mayslake Peabody Estate, 1717 W. 31st St., Oak Brook, (630) 986-8067 or
Showtimes: 8:15 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday; through Aug. 20
Running time: About 2 hours, 20 minutes including intermission
Tickets: $26-$39, $10 for kids 10 and younger
Parking: Free lot adjacent to the estate
Rating: For most audiences