As You Like It: The Walkabout Experience Was Very Much As I Like It

If you enjoy theatre and music you need to make sure that you catch Drew Douris-O’Hara’s production of As You Like It: The Walkabout Experience at Shakespeare By the Sea in Point Pleasant Park before it closes on August 29th, 2025.

Like in Robin Hood, which As You Like It is running in repertory with this summer, we open in a situation where a tyrannical younger brother, in this case Duke Frederick, has usurped power from his elder brother. In As You Like It the elder Duke, who Shakespeare, oddly, doesn’t name, is banished from the duchy to the surrounding mystical but also dangerous Arden Forest. At first Frederick lets his niece, Rosalind, remain, since she is best friends with his daughter, Celia, but then he changes his mind and banishes Rosalind as well. Celia is despondent, and decides she will be happier if she goes with her cousin into the forest. Rosalind is also following the youngest son of Sir Rowland de Boys, her uncle’s enemy, Orlando, with whom she has fallen into love at first sight, and the attraction is more than mutual. Rosalind disguises herself as a young man named Ganymede and Celia disguises herself as a peasant named Aliena, and they leave with Touchstone, the Fool, for company. From there, of course, their disguises provide the basis for much confusion, comedy, and complication.

Director Drew Douris-O’Hara has divided the play into three sections: the initial introduction to the story takes place in the Duchy, in the round at the Cambridge Battery location, mirroring an amphitheatre for the scene where Orlando fights Charles the Wrestler in attempt to get into the Duke’s good graces. We then walk to the second location where we see Rosalind, Celia, and Touchstone first adjusting to their life in the woods, and we meet Audrey, a kind shepherd who seems also to be maybe a farmer, and we see Phebe, a young girl in a fancy dress adamantly and repetitively rejecting the advances of Silvius, a young man around her age. We then walk to the magical third location, which is the permanent encampment of the exiled Duke Senior and his very musical compatriots, where we once again sit in the round, this time with a much more communal feeling of being around a campfire. 

The most distinctive aspect of this production is definitely Eliza Rhinelander’s gorgeous original songs, which especially pepper the action when we are in Duke Senior’s abode. The music could be characterized as being “Americana,” as it mixes elements from country, folk, blues, bluegrass, and gospel, although, of course, many of these genres have a deep history here in Canada as well. It’s interesting how many connections there are in this production with Robin Hood, because the ambiance of the final third of the play reminded me so much of the scene in Disney’s 1973 animated film where Little John treats all the goodhearted characters to his parody song and puppet show “The Phony King of England.” Similarly, we get the sense that each of the songs in As You Like It is being sung by these characters in the world of the play. Rhinelander’s music and lyrics have a timeless quality to them that do not belong to Elizabethan England nor to Medieval times, which is when the story the source material was based on is set. For a contemporary audience, it feels as though these songs of love and nature could have been written at any time in any place. The actors play banjo, violin, percussion, and guitar, among other instruments to further create an ambiance of both the joyful freedom and wistful homesickness the characters experience in tandem in the woods. 

Ian Sherwood plays both the treacherous Duke Frederick and the joyfully kind Duke Senior, and he has the absolute perfect voice for Rhinelander’s music. In fact, if you are familiar with Sherwood’s own music it is not difficult at all to imagine his Duke Senior composing these merry ditties himself. I was extremely impressed with Sherwood’s deft command of Shakespeare’s language, and his ability to play both a scheming, quick to anger Duke Frederick, and the much more lackadaisical and effortlessly charming elder Duke. Sherwood has a very distinctive singing voice that is equal parts buttery and conversational. As much as you might be tempted to lose yourself in the sonorous melody, Sherwood always centres the lyrics- the storytelling- inviting you in with his bright eyes and warm smile- which works perfectly for Duke Senior. 

Another magical bit of casting is Melanie Leon as Rosalind and Seb Reade as Celia, as they really do look like they could be cousins, and they have an ease and affection between them that makes you believe that they have known each other for their entire lives. Leon’s Rosalind acts like a protective older sibling to Celia, who is both more prone to express her big emotions, but who also teases Rosalind when she finds out about her feelings for Orlando. One thing I really enjoyed about Leon’s portrayal of Rosalind is that you get the sense that she really relishes the opportunity to pretend to be a young man, because she craves the freedom that it gives her. Therefore, it is almost as though in Ganymede Rosalind is actually being the most herself. Chris George does a lovely job at oscillating between the dashing hero, ensuring that we are rooting for him and Rosalind to end up together, but also showcasing his sillier side, as he obsessively pens love poems to her and affixes them to every tree in the vicinity. He also sings a hilarious song he wrote for her, accompanying himself on the mandolin, where the rhymes for Rosalind devolve more and more into chaos. 

Jade Douris-O’Hara is fierce and persistent as Phebe, the misguided young maiden who runs away from her lover, Silvius, played by the lovesick Patrick Jeffrey. Together these two provide the play with much of its silliness. Similarly, Rachel Lloyd plays Touchstone, the optimistic fool who falls in love with Audrey, played by Matt Lacas, who is more simple and practical in his musings. Lloyd and Lacas are sort of the opposite of Douris-O’Hara and Jeffrey, two people who on the surface seem less well suited to one another, and yet a very physical attraction is obvious. Lacas is an excellent straight man for Lloyd’s characteristic wild abandon here- especially in the way he is able to scoop the diminutive Lloyd up at will and carry her aloft. Siya Ajay, as Amiens, sings my favourite song in the play. It is so deceptively simple, a song about a lost love, but someone who is adamant to not let their love of life be diminished, and Ajay sings it quietly and accompanies herself in part on the violin, and it’s just gorgeous. Zach Colangelo plays Olivia, Orlando’s older sister who loathes him, and Jaques, the melancholy counterpart to Touchstone, who lives amongst the the merriest of outlaws and still finds reasons to be miserable. Here, this too is played for comic effect, with the others frequently plotting ways to attempt to bring a little bit of levity to Jaques’ life- but to no avail.

I think because of Rhinelander’s music Douris-O’Hara sets the play around the late 1920s or early 1930s, judging just from April Beattie’s costumes, and Lacas’ Audrey has an accent that reminded me of either Lindsey Graham or Jack McBrayer, and then, in the duchy, we have characters who speak with French accents. I wasn’t sure if we were all meant to be in the American Bayou, or whether Lacas’ accent was supposed to be more symbolic. I really liked having the play set in this time period, but it did add a bit of complication to Shakespeare’s already shaky premise that Orlando can’t recognize Rosalind because she’s wearing pants. Here, Touchstone, who in this production is female, wears overalls, which suggests that we are in a time when the idea of a woman in trousers isn’t utterly preposterous- and so I found myself wondering what was it exactly about Rosalind’s disguise that was so convincing that Orlando could, obviously, feel the romantic pull towards Ganymede, but was still utterly fooled by him. 

It was very interesting having Colangelo play Olivia (in the original version of the play the character is Orlando’s older brother Oliver), as she is lording power over her brother by being the firstborn, in a way that we so seldom see, and doing so with such a vengeance, which we also very rarely see from sisters in reference to their younger brothers. Olivia has a dramatic arc in this play, in fact, another play could be written entirely from her point of view; we are never told why she hates Orlando so much, but I wish Shakespeare had taken some more time to flesh out how she ends up having a complete overhaul of her personality- although I understand, of course, close encounters with lions are apt to alter your life’s perspective. According to E.K Chambers’ 1930 chronology As You Like It was Shakespeare’s twentieth play in nine years, and it does feel a bit like he got three quarters of the way through and went, “I’ve got to wrap this up. Fuck it.” Although, I actually enjoy this because it’s not often that you see the human fallibility of Shakespeare peeking through in his plays.

Despite some of the plot holes in Shakespeare’s story, this production in Point Pleasant Park, with Eliza Rhinelander’s gorgeous score, is one of the most enjoyable experiences I have had seeing Shakespeare in my life. As I said about Allen Cole and Ken Schwartz’s musical adaptation of Sleepy Hollow up at Ross Creek as well, I would love to see Shakespeare By the Sea offer audiences the opportunity to buy a cast album for this show on Bandcamp or something. It was really a treat to get to walk around the park, as well, and to have some of the action happening around us, in a truly immersive experience. It worked really well for this play in particular, but I hope that this means that the revival of the Walkabout Experience is here to stay! 

As You Like It: The Walkabout Experience by William Shakespeare, with music by Eliza Rhinelander, and directed by Drew Douris-O’Hara, plays in repertory with Robin Hood this summer until August 29th at Shakespeare By the Sea. Check this calendar for show dates. Shows are 7:00pm and begin at the Cambridge Battery inside Point Pleasant Park. Tickets range in price from PWYC (Suggestion Donation $20.00) at the Door or Online the Day of the Show (Bring Your Own Chair or a Blanket- or rent one when you arrive), to $34.20 (Tax Included) for a Sweet Seat or $57.00 (Tax Included) for a Sweetest Seat- Tickets are availble here. There is a 1:00pm matinee of As You Like It inside at the Halifax Central Library (5440 Spring Garden Road, Halifax)- on August 16th, 2025.

Shakespeare By the Sea is wheelchair accessible and anyone with accessibility needs can book a ride from the upper parking lot in Point Pleasant Park to the Cambridge Battery venue. You can also book a ride in the golf cart to take you to the two additional locations within this performance. Dogs are welcome, and all performances are Relaxed Performances. For more information about accessibility please visit this website or call 902.422.0295 for more information.

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