Clever and fun

Delightful
Funny and fresh
Great ensemble
Great direction 


See it if
You're up for another refreshing take on Shakespeare by the always fun, inventive & energetic Hamlet Isn't Dead Company. This all-female version all sweetness & edge.
Don’t see it if
You don't like your Shakespeare cut, stripped down, joyously knockabout or simply fun and engaging. An As You Like It for our here and now.


Hamlet Isn’t Dead is a young, energetic and consistently inventive company committed to producing the entire Shakespearean canon — and in order. It’s also a company that always finds and presents a disarming amount of fun, joy and silliness along the way, all of which reminds us each time how fresh the originals must have been in their time. 
Little bits of modernity are usually tossed in, which only serves to remind us how timeless and yes, modern these plays still are after more than 400 years. The language just sings,  and it’s always something of a revelation.

As is their current all-female As You Like It, which literally sings with a great spirit and a terrific sense of fun, freedom, liberation and great camaraderie. Done in the round, the evenly matched ensemble constantly engages and includes the audience. The uncredited costumes were casually wonderful — no small feat — and the direction sharp and clever as usual. Only disappointment is the brief run; but maybe next time...

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Quirky
Ambitious
Too long
Fun but disappointing
Entertaining

See it if
You're up for a fine cast holding up a literate, well written if uneven but too-long script. 


Don’t see it if
You're expecting a full-blown comedy or morality tale, or dislike modern dialogue and attitude in medieval dress.


Strong, witty and surprisingly audible performances across the board from this solidly pro cast make the most of this wordy if literate script. Voices are casually projected with an ease and clarity that's rare these days, a relief to encounter.

With her range and energy, Nichols somehow achieves an over-the-top performance without ego and without ever going over-the-top; O'Connell, terrific in the recent Happy Birthday, Wanda June, again brings a surfeit of wit and presence to his several roles here; and the ensemble, doubling or tripling roles, brings great individuality to each.

In the end, though, Wulp's script ruminates much more than it declares, never quite finding its edge — or its point, for that matter. The mercurial Margery Kemp as written here never really changes. Vanity and self-regard intact, she never transforms, ends up where she started, having learned nothing except the value of good press, for posterity.