AS HE LIKES IT...

Omar Elerian talks about his playful approach to one of Shakespeare’s most popular comedies...

by Steve Adams

One of Shakespeare’s ‘most joyous tales’ is being approached very differently in a brand-new RSC production directed by Omar Elerian. Staged as ‘a play within a play’, Omar’s version of As You Like It takes place in a rehearsal-room setting and features a cast of RSC veterans - as he recently explained to What’s On...

A new production of Shakespeare’s comedy, As You Like It - which opens in Stratfordupon-Avon this month - is aiming to throw a fresh light on the story by featuring a cast of actors who are mainly over 70.

Directed by Olivier Award-nominated Omar Elerian, the show hopes not only to challenge the stereotypes around older actors but also bring something new to a familiar play by examining the idea of memory and imagination.

“When the Royal Shakespeare Company approached me about directing As You Like It, I was intrigued,” says Omar. “It’s a comedy, it’s a bit disjointed, it’s full of tongue-in-cheek references and jokes to the audience - but I didn’t want to do it in a straight way.

“I was struck by reading the play how these ideas of love and freedom are normally associated to youth, and actually how I found that older actors, and in fact older people, were excluded by this vision of freedom and love. So I thought maybe that could be an interesting lens to look at the play. It’s a play a lot of people love and know very well, and whether this would be an opportunity to see something new, and whether that might unlock something in it that we hadn’t heard before.” And so the production becomes a play within a play.

“There is a framing device... there is a company of actors who are coming together some 40 to 45 years after they last performed a production of As You Like It. But nothing is left of that production apart from the memories they hold of it - and of course their memories are very different.

“I was interested in this idea of conjuring a memory of a show, and how actors are able to recreate something that is not there, to make the invisible visible to an audience, and how quickly the audience can go on that journey of belief and conspiracy with the performers.”

The production begins in an empty space, a rehearsal room, where the actors try to recall the previous production and their roles.

“By doing this, they little by little get back into habiting that production. Some of the elements can’t be there anymore, or just very simply the actors cannot do the things they were doing years ago. Or they are different people, and what they felt about playing a specific role or a specific line when they were in their 20s sounds very different once they speak those same lines or inhabit those same roles having had that lifelong experience.

“The idea is that theatre is a place where conventions can be challenged and a place of the imagination. Of all Shakespeare’s plays, As You Like It plays the most with this subversion of order, and class and gender and birth - and I thought one thing that we don’t see quite often is how perhaps age is a construct to which we apportion a social value as much as race or gender.”

One of the benefits of Omar’s idea is that the RSC has assembled a host of hugely skilled and respected actors for the show - many of whom have appeared in RSC productions over several decades. The cast includes Maureen Beattie, Oliver Cotton, Celia Bannerman, David Fielder, Geraldine James, David Sibley, Malcolm Sinclair, James Hayes, Robin Soans, Cleo Sylvestre, Ewart James Walters and Michael Bertenshaw.

“It was a very beautiful and humbling experience being able to speak with so many actors of that generation, people I have looked up to for a long time. They were very excited - a lot of them are perhaps not being asked to play roles of that age now. And also for the opportunity to be in a room where you go through a creative process which is not particularly traditional, in which there is a lot of playing, a lot of improvisation.

“Many told me it was like going back to their roots as a younger actor and starting off and kind of learning the craft. So for them it was a case of going back to the roots of their work, being in this big ensemble company, this repertoire company, all over the UK in the ’70s.”

And they are supported by a cast of four younger actors.

“The meeting of these two generations on stage is very touching but also very playful and funny. I think that will be an added dimension of the production that I hope the audience will enjoy.”

Much of Omar’s thinking about the play was inspired by the famous ‘Seven Ages of Man’ speech - given by the exiled lord, Jacqueswhich sits at the heart of As You Like It.

“I was really intrigued by this play because Shakespeare in many plays mentions the craft of theatre - in The Tempest and in Hamlet - but the ‘Seven Ages of Man’ feels so much a declaration. When Jacques says ‘all the world’s a stage, and all the men and women are merely players’, it’s an acknowledgement of how the microcosm that Shakespeare builds on stage was his daily breath; as a writer, an actor, a company manager, he lived and breathed for it.

“He just tells the audience ‘you are watching a play and you are watching the world.’ And the world as well can be a play, and the boundaries between representation and life can be very thin, and the emotions that we invest in these fictions actually help us to understand better our own real lives.

“I hope audiences take away a sense of joy and wonder and playfulness. I think, for me, perhaps the playfulness is at the heart of what we are trying to do. It’s the idea that, regardless of the age and regardless of the status that we apportion to a piece of work or a writer, when we gather for a few hours in a space like a theatre, what we are there to do is to exercise our imagination and to regress in a way, to have this state of childhood. A state where we can really experience wonder and imagine something different, and then perhaps we are able to bring this back into the real world and our daily lives and approach them with more imagination, playfulness and openness.”

The RSC’s As You Like It shows at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratfordupon-Avon, from Saturday 17 June to Saturday 5 August

Live music from across the region...

Terrorvision

hmv Empire, Coventry, Thurs 15 June

Spawned back in the 1980s from the remnants of glam rockers Spoilt Brats, Terrorvision busted their proverbial guts on the touring circuit, played support slots for long-time heroes The Ramones and Motorhead, and finally found their place in the sun in the early 1990s with breakthrough album How To Make Friends And Influence People.

If you love sledgehammer singalong hits and shameless live-rock thrills, this smash-hit band from Bradford deliver in spades. Expect classic anthems like Oblivion, Bad Actress, and their 1999 number-two hit, Tequila.

Bassekou Kouyate and Ngoni Ba

Warwick Arts Centre, Coventry, Mon 5 June

One of Africa’s premier global artists and a profoundly innovative musician, Bassekou

Nell Bryden

Huntingdon Hall, Worcester, Thurs 29 June

Gwen Stefani

Warwick Castle, Fri 23 June

Gwen Stefani stops off at Warwick Castle as part of her first UK tour in 16 years.

A three-time Grammy Award winner with 60 million record sales under her belt, Gwen’s career began when her brother introduced her to the 2 Tone music of, among others, Coventry legends The Selecter, and then invited her to provide vocals for his band, No Doubt. Hitting the big time with them in the mid-1990s, she branched out on her own when the band took a hiatus, and will next year celebrate two glorious decades of megasuccess as a solo artist.

Gwen is joined for her Warwick Castle gig by Sophie Ellis-Bextor.

For 10 years, New Yorker Nell Bryden studied the cello and dreamed of becoming an opera singer.

But then she heard Jimi Hendrix and, even more importantly, Janis Joplin... “And that was that. I was 15, and that was the first time I realised it’s more about your personality than your technical prowess. People fell in love with Janis because she gave it everything.”

Nell visits Worcester with her touring show, Arms Around The Flame. She is joined by up-and-coming singer-songwriter Isabella Coulstock, whose claims to fame include playing a live Under The Apple Tree session for Bob Harris at just 13 years of age.

Annette Gregory

The Tin at The Coal Vaults, Coventry, Sat 17 June

Although she grew up in a household where ska and country were the dominant sounds, it was only after hearing the rich jazz recordings of the legendary Ella Fitzgerald that Annette Gregory finally found her voice. A woman blessed with smooth and soulful vocal tones, Annette here shares her musical heritage of reggae and soul, as well as performing a selection of classic jazz standards.

Kouyate is considered by many to be the world’s greatest exponent of the ngoni, an ancient traditional lute found throughout West Africa.

He is joined for this Coventry concert by his highly regarded band, Ngoni Ba.

Hollie Rogers

Temperance, Leamington Spa, Fri 9 June

If celebrity endorsements could guarantee a dazzling career, then Hollie Rogers would already have made the big-time...

Squeeze’s Cliff Difford has admitted to being ‘knocked out’ by her songs, Suzanne Vegafor whom she’s provided support - has called her voice ‘magnificent and powerful’, and Pink Floyd’s Nick Mason thinks she’s reminiscent of Carole King & Joni Mitchell. You can draw your own conclusions at Temperance, when she’ll be playing an intimate, stripped-back show (with just guitar and keys) ahead of a full-band album launch at the end of her current tour.

Comedy previews from across the region

Paul Smith

Victoria Hall, Stoke-on-Trent, Wed 14 June; O2 Academy, Birmingham, Thurs 20 & Fri 21 July; Brierley Hill Civic Hall, Wed 26 - Thurs 27 July

Affable Liverpool comedian Paul Smith has waxed lyrical on all manner of topics in his time, including such peculiar subjects as who he’d most like to be haunted by (Ghandi - Paul reckons he’d do it quite quietly) and which is the largest animal he thinks he could beat in a fight (a goose). He’s also ‘died’ on stage in front of a Babylon 5 actress, who made matters worse for him by shaking her head in pity... Widely regarded as one of the comedy circuit’s most accomplished MCs, Paul visits the Midlands with his touring show, Joker.

Jen Brister

Theatre Severn, Shrewsbury, Fri 16 June

As she attempted to establish herself on the circuit back in the early noughties, Jen Brister received a much-needed boost from a comedy legend.

The occasion was the BBC New Act semifinals in Brighton. The legend in question: Spike Milligan, who was one of the judges. Although Jen didn’t get through to the final, she did find out from the show’s producer that Spike had voted for her.

“He’d also remarked that I had ‘a great pair of Bristols’,” she recalls. “So clearly he had great taste in comedy and, er, tits!”

Jen visits Shrewsbury with her latest touring show, The Optimist.

“My favourite thing is being relentless,” Australian comedian Rhys Nicholson revealed to broadwaybaby in preparing to tour his brand-new standup offering, Rhys! Rhys! Rhys!. “That’s what you can expect from this show - just me relentlessly talking too quickly.”

Rhys is promising a gig that will aim to steer

Tez Ilyas

The Glee Club, Birmingham, Fri 16 June

Tez Ilyas’ standup has been likened to candyfloss with a razorblade hidden inside, while his television work has brought him to the attention of a whole new audience. The fact that he’s been able to hit the right notes with so many people doesn’t come as a surprise to the man himself, though: “It doesn’t matter what walk of life we’re from, I think we’re all united by the British sense of humour. Whatever creed, colour, sexual orientation or gender type we are, we have a connection based around a mutual appreciation of that sort of comedy.” clear of every comedian’s favourite subject over the last couple of years: the Covid pandemic. “It’s me banging on about myself for about an hour. It’s just about me. It’s the happiest I’ve ever been with a show, I thinkwhich sounds a bit arrogant, but I really worked hard on jokes per minute, and wanting it to be pretty relentless.”

Kane Brown & Richard Blackwood

Belgrade Theatre, Coventry, Sat 24 June

Two comedy heavyweights for the price of one...

Former direct-sales executive Kane Brown kickstarted his current career back in 2006 when he enrolled in a two-week course in standup-comedy, since which time he’s honed his rib-tickling talents to excellent effect. Richard Blackwood, meanwhile, cites Richard Pryor, Eddie Murphy and Chris Rock as his inspirations. He peddles a comedic style that’s been described as ‘an amalgam of these three, with an added healthy dose of Afro Caribbean and South London humour’.

Festivals coming to the region in June...

Download Festival

Donington Park, Derby, Thurs 8 - Sun 11 June

With top billing consistently taken by some of the biggest names in rock and metal, it’s not hard to see why Download is one of the most popular and well-attended festivals in the UK.

Conceived as a follow-up to the Monsters Of Rock Festival, Download partly owes its name to the pioneering way in which it uses technology to connect with audiences and build a community.

2023 line-up includes: Metallica, Bring Me The Horizon, Slipknot (pictured), Alter Bridge, Architects, Parkway Drive, Evanescence, Pendulum, Disturbed, Placebo, Alexisonfire, Ghost, Bad Religion, Electric Callboy, Simple Plan and Coheed & Cambria.

Heal

West Mid Showground, Shrewsbury, Fri 30 June - Sun 2 July

Music & wellbeing festival Heal returns for a second year.

As well as a diverse main-stage musical lineup, the event also features a bass tent, a health & wellbeing village, a funfair, arts & crafts, street food and optional camping.

Lichfield Blues & Jazz

Various venues across Lichfield, Sun 4 - Sun 11 June

Now in its 32nd year, Lichfield Blues & Jazz Festival has become a firm favourite on the city’s cultural calendar.

The week-long get-together celebrates the best in local jazz & blues talent, as well as showcasing quality musicianship from further afield.

New for 2023 is the inclusion of Latin and salsa music, while the Lindy Hop dance community will be hosting sure-to-bepopular dance workshops.

2023 line-up includes: Catfish, Remi Harris Trio, Fred T Baker, Funky Velvet, Nick Dewhurst Band, Chris Bowden Quartet, Del Camino (pictured) and Lichfield Jazz Big Band

Godiva Festival

War Memorial Park, Coventry, Fri 30 June - Sun 2 July

Organisers of Coventry’s Godiva Festival are anticipating another blockbuster year, with veteran performers joining emerging artists across a dazzling array of genres. While the traditional Godiva procession continues to this day, the event has certainly come a long way since its 17th-century origins as a celebration of the medieval Countess of Mercia.

The award-winning original family ravers, Big Fish Little Fish, will be on hand to keep youngsters entertained. The festival will also play host to the Shropshire Music Awards grand final on the Friday evening.

2023 line-up includes: The Enemy, Cast, The Slow Readers Club (pictured), Dub Pistols, Altern8, Mistress Mo, K-Klass, Bryan Gee, Aries and Kelvin Grant of Musical Youth

Due to its continued popularity, the festival is ticketed. Under-fives go free, and concessions are available for students, over-65s, and people who have benefits and asylum-seeker status.

2023 line-up includes: The Enemy, Rudimental, Melanie C, Ella Eyre (pictured), The Selecter, The K’s, Celina Sharma, Cruel Hearts Club and Oneman

AlderFest

Alderford Lake, Whitchurch, Fri 30 June & Sat 1 July

AlderFest returns for a second year after a successful debut event in 2022.

Hosted by AJ and Curtis Pritchard, the event features a live-music line-up and plenty for the family to enjoy, including a roller disco, motorcycle stunt show, Zeus the dinosaur, circus workshops and a football academy. An ‘extraordinary’ 120-person aquapark will be open throughout the day, with other attractions including raft building, wild swimming and paddleboards.

2023 line-up includes: McFly, Sam Ryder, Heather Small, Aston Merrygold, Artful Dodger, The Royston Club, Sonique, NTrance, Dave Pearce, Baby D and Ultrabeat