Like it, I did.

Shakespeare's "As You Like It'' is a tricky one for directors since its plot is less intricate and dramatic than that of Midsummer Night's Dream, for example, or of The Merchant of Venice. Most of the strong action is over by the end of Act 1 so the rest of the play consists of conversations reflecting different points of view among characters of varying social combinations. Much of the conversation rests on conflicting views of love that range from the idealised kind expressed by Silvius to the basic erotic kind comically expressed by Touchstone.

Director Liviu Ciulei did not fall into the trap of "enlivening'' the plot through the use of gadgetry or of ornate stage design. There was no gadgetry and no stage set at all beyond lighting. The subtle lighting of the backdrop evoked pastoral impressions of a forest glade, sometimes sunlit, sometimes shadowed.

The programme's mention of Ciulei's inspiration from the surrealists led me to expect Magritte. Instead, we got Monet. Quite right too, since the play's main setting, the Forest of Arden, is a kind of free space whose reality and values depend on the people who inhabit it. For the exiled Duke, elegantly played by Robert Alexander Owens, it is a refuge from the treacheries of courtly life.

"...the icy fang/And churlish chiding of the winter's wind'' is better than flattery. For Corin, it is an unromantic, unliterary setting where: "...

the property of rain is to wet and fire to burn; that good pasture make fat sheep; and that a great cause of the night is the lack of the sun.'' And for Touchstone, "...in respect that it is not in the court, it is tedious.'' Andy Paterson's and Marc Damon Johnson's portrayals of Corin and Touchstone were particularly well done. Corin's position as a rustic realist was clearly stated with dignity and contrasted well with the comic contradictions of Touchstone's situation. A weak rendition of Touchstone can be disastrous. Of all the actors, Marc Johnson's command of Shakespearean language was the least forced and his easy, humorous interaction with the other characters made him what he should be -- literally the touchstone of the play.

Mary F. Randle's depiction of Audrey, supposedly "an ill favoured thing,'' was good too. One carp I have is that she was too attractive -- Audrey really is supposed to be "foul.'' Still, she is an actor to be watched. Even when playing the minor role of Duke Senior's lord, she revealed a natural stage presence.

Of course the most challenging role is Rosalind's. In fact, it is the longest part Shakespeare gave to a female character. Length apart, the challenge lies in interpreting the implications of her disguise as a man. Should she be more female than male? More male than female? Or should she be androgynous? Felicity Jones was definitely more female. But she brilliantly used her disguise to cross the barriers of what is "seemly'' for a woman to express about her feelings and what is not. Whereas in Act 1 the closest physical contact she could make with Orlando was a brush of the finger tips, in the succeeding scenes, in the guise of Ganymede, she actually stroked him. Actors often emphasise the buoyant resilience that characterises Rosalind but Felicity Jones went further. She emphasised the yearning that underlies the heroine's testing of Orlando so that during the mock wedding her line: "but - I do take thee Orlando for my husband'' had real poignancy.

Her physicality was extremely effective because it created a tension in Celia.

Celia's role can be difficult because while it is strong at the beginning, it can diminish as Rosalind becomes more dominant. Ironically, Heather Robinson reversed this pattern. At the beginning, she stumbled over words and her distress over Rosalind's exile was rather forced. However, her acting improved as the play went on. For example, she convincingly displayed shock when she thought Rosalind was going too far and her facial expressions gave plausibility to the sudden love she felt for Oliver.

Kevin James Kelly, as Orlando, managed to be neither wimp nor fool. He had physical grace, as befits the part, and the essential kindness came through.

His gently humorous disparagement of Jacques (played by Kevin Orton in suitably lugubrious style) was nicely done. In contrast, Danny Swartz was a rather wooden villain at the start but he loosened up once he entered the Forest of Arden.

Scott Killian's score certainly underlined the importance of music and song in "As You Like It''. In the pieces used to set the scenes, the music had a slightly New Age flavour with plenty of atmospherics. The accompaniment for the songs was reminiscent of Elizabethan music with the plucked string sound dominant. A pity, though, "It was a lover and his lass'' was cut.

While music and set enhanced the production, I am not so sure about the costumes. Since the contrast between the court and the country is crucial to the play, I do not think the vaguely 1930s costume was appropriate.

Double-breasted suits are just not courtly enough. Changing the period of the play is only justifiable if it reveals a new perspective. Eighteenth century dress would have been fine. In that century, aristocrats, sometimes weary of their regalia, really did dress up as shepherds and shepherdesses.

----Liz Jones