Before the bloody hurly-burly of Henry V, Shakespeare went soft.
He wrote one of his most famous rom-coms, As You Like It. Scholars are still debating when he penned it. Most think it had to be after the death of Kit Marlowe in 1593, since Act III contains two references to the famous writer, the Bard’s predecessor and major influence. Phebe’s quote, “Dead shepherd, now I find thy saw of might: Who ever loved that loved not at first sight?” is a direct quotation from Marlowe’s epic poem Hero and Leander.
And later, the fool Touchstone says, “It strikes a man more dead than a great reckoning in a little room,” as a direct acknowledgment of Marlowe’s tragic murder in a bar brawl. So far, nobody seems to know exactly in what order Shakespeare wrote his bucolic farce, but we’re glad he did.
Houston Shakespeare Festival puts a special gloss on this lively comedy. After a disturbing first act of banishment and brotherly rivalry, the protagonists scurry into the magical forest of Arden where romantic complications and gender bending confusion explode. There is wit galore in many passages containing Shakespeare’s most precious language; many rude mechanicals like jesters, royalty, randy shepherds and shepherdesses falling over each other as they chase themselves breathless to find love.
It’s quite architectural in structure, and a true crowd pleaser. Rosalind’s father Duke Senior (Jack Young) has been usurped by brother Frederick (Michael Thatcher), leaving behind daughter Rosalind (Molly Wetzel) as ward. Her best bud at court is Celia (Madison Prentiss), Frederick’s daughter. At court, Oliver (James Cardwell) has also usurped his younger brother Orlando (Brendon Carter) out of his inheritance, reducing him to peasant status. He hates Orlando and wants him dead, and after a wrestling match where Orlando bests the favorite, he is brought face to face with Rosalind and it’s “love at first sight” for both of them. Orlando is forced to flee. Rosalind and Celia with their court jester Touchstone (Forrest Stringfellow) follow him into the forest.
In the company of Senior is one of Shakespeare’s most ingenious characters, Jaques, known as Monsieur Melancholy (Austin Hanna). He gets two great cynical arias, “All the world’s a stage” and the “Seven ages of man.” Wry and forever bitching about the plight of man or the silliness of love, he leavens the comedy as only Shakespeare can do. Hanna gives his speeches with a more stentorian interpretation than is usual, but it works. Everybody listens.
What follows is that Rosalind, before arriving at the forest, decides to disguise herself as a young man. When Orlando meets her in the woods dressed as a man, Orlando is so lovesick he agrees to let himself woo him/her as a faux Rosalind to get over his infatuation. Instead, he becomes infatuated with this young stud. The LGBTQ community will have a field day with this disguise and way of wooing.
Shepherdess Phebe (Calee Miles) falls in love with this handsome young man, too, befuddling shepherd Silvius (Kyle Clark) who is head over heels in love with her but she won’t give him the time of day. Eventually, Shakespeare juggles four couples with interlocking parts. There is magic in how the puzzle breaks apart and then rights itself.
Naturally, if you were an Elizabethan theater goer, this would all make perfect sense in a way, since all female characters were played by the “roaring boys,” usually teenagers before their voices broke in later adolescence. Having a boy play a girl play a man in disguise was a peculiar theatrical devise. The audience would be in on the joke and love the switched gender roles. These boy actors must have been incredibly accomplished: they played Cleopatra, Ophelia, Lady Macbeth, Rosalind, Desdemona, Mistress Quickly, Portia, Cordelia…
Director Sophia Watts, of Rec Room fame, supplies momentum and comic tone to this pastoral romp, although the bumpkins get a bit tiresome as they yell their lines to reach Miller Outdoor’s “hill” or the numerous pratfalls that would fill an anthology of Keystone Cop comedies. Kalliope Vlahos overlays the play’s look with grand tapestries for the court and then swirling cutout trees for Arden. There’s an original score by John Amar that hints at Renaissance dance music, and a few songs with their Shakespearean lyrics pepper the evening to augment the romantic mood. And Ashley Bellet’s fine costumes sparkle with gems, hoods, silky bliaut sleeves, and those distinctive mesh ear muffs.
The actors, in repertory from Henry V, again acquit themselves with finesse, with standouts being Prentiss; Wetzel; Clark; Carter; Hanna; Miranda Marquez as Audrey, the shy/not too shy love interest of Touchstone; Thatcher; Stringfellow; and HSF artistic director Jack Young as Senior. Young has such a natural way of speaking Shakespeare, it’s no wonder he runs the place.
As You Like It is a fantasy, an entertainment that could only have been dreamed up by the Bard. A trifle too long, it’s a good night at the theater, even though you will sweat through your clothes, be distracted by that fidgety child down the row, and overwhelmed by the smell of nachos and popcorn. Shakespeare gives us a circus; Miller might as well smell and sound like one, too.
As You Like It continues at 8:15 p.m. August 5, 7, 9 at Miller Outdoor Theatre, 6000 Hermann Park Drive. For more information, call 832-487-7102 or visit milleroutdoortheatre.com. Free admittance.
This article appears in Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2025.
