I absolutely love the Northwest Classical Theatre Company’s motto:
“Content over Concept.” Translation: Don’t obscure your text in
grandiose directorial vision or pandering rewrites. Trust that
Shakespeare and Chekhov knew what they were doing. The popular conceit
that classic works must be given facelifts in order to appeal to modern
audiences insults both the intelligence of those audiences and the
talents of the actors involved. Frequently, all that’s necessary in
order to make a so-called “classic” widely accessible is a deep
commitment, on the part of the theater company, to furrowing out the
meaning of every line. If the actors understand what they’re saying,
the audience will, too.
This concept is effectively borne out in the Northwest Classical
Theatre Company’s crowd-pleasing rendition of As You Like It.
Shakespeare’s cross-dressing comedy is presented here with a light
touch and an irreverent sensibility that drive home a point all too
often missed with the Bard’s lighter works: This shit is supposed to be
fun. The script is rife with bawdy innuendo, all of which the cast hits
hard, with genuinely funny results—I haven’t laughed ’til I got
teary at any show in recent memory, much less at a script that was
written 400 years ago.
The dashing Butch Flowers(!) is pitch-perfect as Orlando, the
love-struck youth who, exiled from his home, spends his days mooning
about the forest, writing love letters to the duplicitous Rosalind.
Richard Reiten could not be funnier as Orlando’s wild-haired, ranting
servant, and Kevin Price’s snooty, posturing Charles is the definition
of “priggish.”
I saw the show in the Terry Schrunk Plaza at SW 3rd and Jefferson,
where the players had to compete with bus mall traffic and the
occasional police siren. The noise constraints proved more strain for
some actors than others—Melissa Whitney’s hilariously butch
Rosalind was hoarse by the end of the show, though she powered through
it admirably. The show is free, and you can always leave during
intermission if it’s not working for you. What’ve you got to lose?