AS YOU LIKE IT

"Dead shepherd, now I find thy saw of might:
Who ever loved who loved not at first sight?"

This was a youthful, exuberant production, full of ideas, like a helium balloon that lit up to become the moon, and a sheep on wheels. It felt curiously old-fashioned, like a drama school production, albeit a very good drama school. Perhaps Sam West hadn't murdered enough of his darlings [not his cast, but his inventions] but in the end I was completely won over, in particular by a well-paired Celia and Rosalind and by Jaques.

And I love the two lines above, in which WS pays tribute to Christopher Marlowe. Here is Marlowe's poem in full.

It lies not in our power to love or hate,
For will in us is overruled by fate.
When two are stripped, long ere the course begin,
We wish that one should love, the other win;
And one especially do we affect
Of two gold ingots, like in each respect:
The reason no man knows, let it suffice,
What we behold is censured by our eyes.
Where both deliberate, the love is slight:
Who ever loved, that loved not at first sight?

Personal Star Rating[out of five]***