Article:10067; Posted: August 4, 2015 at 1:00 p.m.

Outdoor theater comes with a lot of challenges, most brought on by the weather but others by acoustics. If you’re performing outdoors, you need to be loud—even if you have microphones surrounding the stage.

At Waterworks’ family stage production of “As You Like It,” the biggest drawback of the afternoon was the inconsistency of actor projection and too many actors who were too quiet even with the microphones.

It can be a difficult play to pull off and this version was cut to be well under two hours. That doesn’t leave much time for character development, though all of the main scenes were in this edit. It is a play where all the good guys get banished to the Forest of Arden. The evil duchess (and we know she is evil because her soundtrack is the Darth Vader theme from Star Wars), played by Barbie Weisserman, has banished her sister (also played by Weisserman) from the land and taken over her throne. She’s let her niece, Rosalind (Anna Marck), stay because she is so close to her daughter, but that soon changes and she banishes the niece and the daughter, Celia (Kimberly Alley), runs away with her.

Elsewhere in the land, there is enmity between two brothers, Orlando and Oliver. The older, Oliver (Garrett Harris), is denying education and advancement opportunities to his younger brother, Orlando (Mat Pecek). Soon, Orlando runs off to the forest, but not before meeting and falling in love with Rosalind.

Once in the forest, there are all sorts of lovers who meet and woo. Rosalind has dressed herself as a man to protect her and Celia and convinces Orlando to woo her as if she were Rosalind rather than Ganymede.

The two brothers were handsome to look at–in their open vests that showed off muscular chests. Pecek made for an entertaining wrestler and the combat moves were well choreographed.

Marck and Alley were two highlights of the show, both charming and engaging. Marck truly seemed lovesick and showed all the different stages and whims of love both when with her cousin and with her would-be lover. She was amusing as a man, especially as she would catch herself with rising voice and try to correct it. Alley was ever the doting friend, shining in such scenes where she was exasperated with Rosalind’s extreme moods. She flopped about well when exhausted from travel and was moonish when she fell victim to love herself.

This was Travis Reiff’s debut as a director for WaterWorks (though he has performed with them in the past) and it is a mixed outing for him. The vision was somewhat of a mish-mash of ideas, sometimes pulling out cell phones for selfies, yet still maintaining the rustic feel of the forest. The soundtracks that sometimes came over the speakers muffled the actors’ lines, leaving them impossible to be made out.

There were some well-known lines that were lost due to blocking choices. We hear Celia say, “I like this place,” but the rest of her line is lost as she is being turned on the back of Touchstone. At other times, Reiff’s blocking made great use of the two-story stage and multiple entries to keep interest high.

One scene that works well is when Jacques (or Jay-queez according to the program), played by Dennis T. Kleinsmith, delivers the famous “All the World’s a Stage” monologue with the Duchess Fredricka helping him by acting out the different stages of man.

Costumer Corey Globke was considerate of her actors performing in the outdoor heat, providing them with costumes that were mostly light and many had short-sleeves. The costumes weren’t from any one particular period but had a flair of the modern in them.

Set Designer Kristen Gribbin did a good job of creating a scenic design that works with the mainstage show’s set. She provided trees and backdrops for the forest that were able to be added quickly for a transition from one scene to the next.

WaterWorks has been putting on outdoor theater in Royal Oak for 15 years now. Most of their shows are high quality and a robust look at Shakespeare’s finest works. This production doesn’t quite meet their usual standards, though it has individual things about it to like.

SHOW DETAILS:
As You Like It
Water Works Theatre
Starr Jaycee Park
August 1–August 9, 2015; Thursday, Fridays and Saturdays at 8:00 p.m.; Sundays at 5:00 p.m.
$10.00-$20.00
248-399-3727
ShakespeareRoyalOak.com