Leah Harvey (Rosalind) and Rose Ayling-Ellis (Celia) in As You Like It (Picture: Manuel Harlan)
From Strictly to Shakespeare is quite a leap, but EastEnders actress and 2021 dance champion Rose Ayling-Ellis makes it look easy in Josie Rourke’s autumnal revival of Shakespeare’s bittersweet comedy.
She plays Celia, who flees her repressive father and heads to the quasi-fantastical forest of Arden with her cousin Rosalind (Leah Harvey), both of them dressed as men.
As a British Sign Language user, Ayling-Ellis delivers the Bard’s verse in a winning mix of BSL, Sign Supported English and expressive physical gestures that have their own vivid physical poetry.
It is fitting for a play that is steeped less in action than in a certain musical romantic sensibility. And I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a Celia quite this animated, anguished, mischievous and assertive. She’s worth the trip all by herself.
Still, it’s a bold move by Rourke to stage one of Shakespeare’s less-performed plays as only the second show at this brand new theatre on Charing Cross Road.
Martha Plimpton’s Jacques lacks the required bleakness (Picture: Johan Persson)
Her production, staged in the round, is full of beauty, with on-stage pianist Michael Bruce accompanying the verse throughout in ways that neatly accentuate the play’s lambent lyricism. Leaves fall from above, like the scraps of poetry Alfred Enoch’s love-struck Orlando leaves on the trees for Rosalind. The stage glows like a jewel.
Harvey – one of several trans and non-binary performers – is a lovely playful Rosalind, but others miss the detail and the darker undertones. I wanted more bleak anguish from Martha Plimpton’s Jacques, for instance. There’s a sense the production is in thrall to its own loveliness.
But maybe there’s nothing wrong with loveliness at this time of year. And Ayling-Ellis makes Celia her own.
MORE : Super Sized Salon star and Babydoll Beauty Couture founder Jamie Lopez dies aged 37
MORE : Chris Packham calls for Jeremy Clarkson to be jailed over now-deleted Meghan Markle column
Got a story?
If you’ve got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the Metro.co.uk entertainment team by emailing us [email protected], calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page – we’d love to hear from you.
Signs of brilliance from the Strictly and EasEnders star.
