“Even the sheep are having a romance.” In typical La Boite fashion, Trevor Stuart sums up the essence of ‘As You Like It’ from a decidedly offbeat angle.
The internationally acclaimed actor is part of the 18-person troupe performing ‘As You Like It’, the latest production from forward-thinking, fast-moving, eye-opening theatre company La Boite. So enamoured with the Shakespearian play and his fellow performers, Stuart paused after one rapid-fire monologue, asking “I’m not going on too much am I?” before leaping back into the conversation.

Assured that he’s not, he proceeds to wax lyrical about the prose, has moments of palpable rapture at the sexy complexity of the work, even declaring at one point that “… every fifth line is a perfect moment of English language.”  From the ways Stuart speaks about ‘As You Like It’, it is apparent the man is a big big fan but he does admit, “it’s a very difficult play.”

Stopping to correct himself, he adds, “actually it’s an extraordinary play which I didn’t even realise was such an extraordinary play. I had seen it before and thought that it was ok. But now I’m really prepared to put it into the top echelon, the top cannon of the man’s works.

“It is so complex, so brilliant and of course we have the privilege of being able to chop it up and break it down into little bits and analyse every second. So the play which begins looking as though it is going to be a tragedy is set in a typical urban state, one that’s in deep deep division. And then following that, quite quickly on, everyone is thrown out into the Forest of Arden and there it becomes a pastoral comedy where everyone ends up happily ever after and it’s a total delight.”

The plot sounds slightly wacky, the characters flimsy and the set surely will be difficult to create but from Stuart, there is no argument merely a supremely confident air of invincibility.

He justifies this with explanations about the cast (“Ten professional, eight students - the pick of the crop - and all are hilarious), the director (“David Berthold has such a good rein on things, plus he has a sharp eye and a very good ear”), the set (“Renee Mulder has designed a fantastic set and it is going to be one of the big La Boite moments”) and the lead actors (“Helen Howard has nailed the biggest female part Shakepeare has ever written and Thomas Larkin is a bit of rising star really”).

And within this, the real focus is the script as it moves from urban to pastoral, and from tragedy to comedy with “the most beautiful philosophical tracts being thrown in and some of the greatest lines that have ever existed.” When asked if this production will appeal to everyone, Staurt stops to gather his thoughts and his considered answer sums it all up very nicely. “In that La Boite way, we have made it rather rapid, very accessible and remember it’s about love. Really it’s better than any magazine or modern romance as it’s love across the board. No one is left out - even the sheep are having a romance.”

‘As You Like It’ opens on the La Boite stage February 18.