Leah Harvey, left, and Rose Ayling-Ellis in As You Like It
(Picture: Manuel Harlan)The West End’s spanking new theatre @sohoplace comes into its own with this rich and beautiful staging of Shakespeare’s comedy by Josie Rourke, full of music and charm. Leah Harvey’s Rosalind, Alfred Enoch’s Orlando and Rose Ayling-Ellis’s Celia are played younger than usual, their teenage hijinks and sudden passions faintly absurd, though no less moving for that. Enoch’s moustache, mocked by the girls as a “little beard”, even looks like an attempt to appear older.
This is an inclusive show, with some parts taken by trans, gender-fluid or non-binary performers. EastEnders star and Strictly winner Ayling-Ellis is deaf, and the fact that she and Harvey’s Rosalind communicate chiefly through sign language (Harvey also speaks, and all the dialogue is shown on screens around the auditorium) adds another layer to their intimacy. I confess I found the surtitles distracting: but, you know, I got over it.
