In an acting studio in Kantner Hall, Shelley Delaney continually runs a short scene of As You Like It by William Shakespeare, the final Division of Theater mainstage production of the academic year, in which protagonist Rosalind first enters the Forest of Arden. Each time, she gives the actors notes on how to deliver their performance with the utmost clarity.
“That’s my job … to make this stuff as clear and as accessible as possible,” said Delaney, the show’s director and associate professor of theater and head of performance. “I want people to see other Shakespeare plays because they like this. … I want to explore what’s complicated (about his works), but I want you in it. I want you in the story with me.”
This story follows a woman named Rosalind as she flees from persecution in her uncle’s court, with her cousin Celia and the jester Touchstone and finds safety — and love — in the Forest of Arden.
Emilio Tirri, who plays Touchstone, said no one should be apprehensive of seeing this play, even if it is Shakespeare. With the battling jealousy between brothers and desire to know what one’s lover is thinking, Tirri said the audience will be able to connect with the characters “without question” because of the Bard’s ability to fully convey the human condition.
“He wrote human beings better than anybody else ever has or maybe ever will,” said Tirri, a second-year graduate actor. “Watching it, they’ll realize they’re just people on the stage. We just speak better than a lot of other people do.”
The play is not confined to a particular era because a majority of the action takes place in the Forest of Arden, which Delaney describes as a transformational place.
With the unit set combining metal and wood on stage and a tree’s roots hanging from the ceiling, C. David Russell, the scenic designer for As You Like It and assistant professor of scenic design, said he decided to make the set a liminal space, a place in transition.
“We get a sense of the world, but we’re not given the world,” said Russell. “I’ve given them hints, but it’s up to the audience to fill it all in.”
@buzzlightmeryl
mg986611@ohiou.edu
This article originally appeared in print under the headline "Bringing clarity to a complicated story"
