As I Liked It

Thursday past, three nights ago, I saw the Great River Shakespeare Festival performance of As You Like It. As usual, they did a fine, professional, and very entertaining job with this play. But somehow I didn't like it as much as the ones I saw last summer (the first year I attended any of their performances). I've been considering that fact for the past couple of days, and I think I've come to the reason for it: the play itself. I've seen proabably half a dozen or slightly more of the Bard's works performed, and with the exception of Cymbeline, it's the first one I've seen that I haven't read (at least that I remember -- college was a long, long time ago). It's not that I didn't understand the play or couldn't follow the action; no, the GRSF did a fine job of making it clear. I just don't think it's one of Bill's best works. There were a number of scenes where I found myself wondering, what's the point of this? A few scenes (and characters) just seemed to be filler until the main players and storyline could reappear on stage. Now, it may well be that I'd feel differently if I'd read and studied the script (usually a help in watching any play, though I often find myself thinking how I would have directed it differently), but it didn't seem like as strong and coherent a work as I'd expect from this playwright.