Joy!

It was Brecht, the incorrectly labelled poster boy of all things serious and educational who said that 'theatre needs no other passport than fun, but this it has got to have'. I very rarely find myself seeking out unadulterated fun or joy at the theatre. In this cynical, recession dipped world, joy feels a bit naive and irrelevant or, in the hands of the middle classes, a bit smug, much like a Richard Curtis film.
This is especially true in the home of Stratford-upon-Avon, which is so idyllic it feels more appropriate, in order to not get too full of oneself, to be shoe gazing and melancholy; in the words of Shakespeare's Jaques we prefer to let our 'rumination wrap' us up 'in a most humorous sadness'. Yet Maria Aberg's As You Like It is so unashamedly big hearted and full of love soaked joy, you just can't help end up, much like the melancholic Jaques, getting carried away.

The visuals of the production are richly influenced by contemporary references; the medieval tinged futurism of the Hunger Games (although I swore the opening dance was nicked from Bill and Ted's vision of the future) combined with the stripped down and dressed up acoustic of a Mumford and Sons festival gig. Festival chic may feel like an oxymoron but the air of unabashed happiness and hope, so decidedly uncool in today's doom and gloom centred society, felt like a breath of fresh air. Pippa Nixon brings all of her open hearted energy to the role of Rosalind and you can completely understand why everyone would fall in love with her combination of strength and vulnerability. She is the perfect fit for Rosalind, who is, alongside Beatrice and Katherine, one of Shakespeare's most rocking leading ladies, with just the sort of complexity that Natalie Portman recently complained was lacking in modern female roles. James Farncombe's lighting transformed Naomi Dawson's flexible if austere set, transporting you to sun tinged and moonlit forests. Extra kudos goes to Dawson and Aberg for the pop up wagon, which together with Laura Marling's songs and the talented musicians, led by Chris Jared's sweet voiced Amiens transported us to the cider filled europhoria of a Glastonbury Sunday. If you can't beat them join them, I say, although Rosalind puts it better; 'I had rather had a fool to make me merry than experience to make me sad.'