Royal Shakespeare Company announce full casting for AS YOU LIKE IT
Photo credit: Ellie Kurttz
The Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) has announced full casting for its forthcoming production of As You Like It, directed by Omar Elerian, which runs in the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon between 17 June – 5 August.
Challenging the stereotypes and pre-conceptions associated with growing older, this playful and provocative new take on As You Like It features a company of actors, most of whom are aged over 70.
Commenting on the production Elerian said: “When the RSC got in touch about directing the play, I was really keen to explore it from a fresh and new perspective; I was also hoping to work with actors who had a huge experience, of both Shakespeare and life.
“Much as the play is traditionally associated with young love, I feel there’s something really powerful in rediscovering the themes of freedom and love from the perspective of older age. I’ve therefore cast the play almost exclusively with performers who are past the age of 70. Allowing the actors’ age to be both very present in the audience’s mind and yet be forgotten throughout the production feels to me like one of the most immediate demonstrations of how theatre can be a place of wondrous possibilities and imagination - not only to seek escape from the relentlessness of our daily lives - but also to create a sort of literal, communal ‘compassion' for our shared humanity.”
In Elerian’s production a company of veteran actors - many of whom have a strong history with the RSC – together with four younger actors will perform one of Shakespeare’s most joyous tales. On a stage transformed into a simple rehearsal room, the actors will gather to conjure a long gone show of which nothing is left but their fading memory of it, celebrating the magic of theatre and its unique power to make our imagination soar in an ode to young love, old age, and theatre itself.
Talking about the younger members of the cast, Elerian said: “The four younger members of the company will act as understudies as well as participating in the act of conjuring the memory of this long gone production of As You Like It. Script in hand and ready to spring into action, they will complement with their youthful exuberance the mastery of their more experienced colleagues in a playful and touching encounter between generations.”
The full cast is: Celia Bannerman (The Cherry Orchard, Salisbury Playhouse) as Phoebe, Maureen Beattie (Duet For One, Orange Tree Theatre) as Celia, Michael Bertenshaw (The Crown, Netflix) as Oliver, Hannah Bristow (Five Children And It, Egg Theatre Bath Theatre Royal) as Player, Oliver Cotton (Love for Love, National Theatre) as Jacques, David Fielder (Small Island, National Theatre) as Silvius, James Hayes (As You Like It, National Theatre) as Touchstone, Geraldine James (Hamlet, Broadway) as Rosalind, Tyreke Leslie (Dead Poets Live: Nonsense Show) as Player, Mogali Masuku (Belle & Sebastien, Bristol Old Vic) as Player, David Sibley (Henry V, Regents Park Open Air Theatre) as Corin, Malcolm Sinclair (My Fair Lady, London Coliseum) as Orlando, Robin Soans (Uncle Vanya, Hampstead Theatre) as Duke Senior/Duke Frederick/Hymen, Cleo Sylvestre (Wise Child, West End) as Audrey, Ewart James Walters (Our Lady Of Kibeho, Royal and Derngate/Stratford East) as William/Charles the Wrestler), and Rose Wardlaw (Blithe Spirit, Theatre Royal Bath/ West End) as Player.
Joining Omar on the creative team are designer Ana Inés Jabares Pita, lighting designer Jackie Shemesh, composer Will Gregory, sound designer Elena Peña, movement direction by Annabel Arden and Jos Houben, and casting director Matthew Dewsbury CDG.
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