As You Like It by William Shakespeare at The Atkinson

I thoroughly understand why 'As you Like It' has not been staged at the National Theatre for 30 years. It has too many characters and a confusing  plot. However, it includes one of the playwright's most oft-quoted passages, the so-called 'Seven Ages of  Man' speech, beginning 'All the world's the stage' , as well as some familiar gems such as Touchstone's (Mark Benton)  description of his rustic girl-friend: 'An ill-favoured thing, but mine own'.

It was a real treat to see an RSC production streamed live on Thursday at the Atkinson in Southport, not least because it's only a fifteen minute walk from where I live.

This wasn't a production to change my view of the play,  but it was very entertaining - maybe not for the right reasons.

Set in the Forest of Arden, the action consists  of the interactions of  a number of  lovelorn and mistreated characters as they drift in and out of a 'clearing' , narrowly missing one another, much like the 'another part of the battlefield' convention of 'Macbeth' and 'Henry V'. The twist here is that they emerge from between the  'branches' of  dangling furniture.

It takes a stage with the capabilities of the Olivier to transform a 'Pyjama Game'-style  workshop into a forest. It was like watching  a slow-motion  explosion in an IKEA warehouse. Hinged chairs, tables and and desk-lamps remain suspended at different levels, spotlights piercing the gloom in a permanent winter twilight. Rehearsals must have been a nightmare.

The forest , like the air of Prospero's island, is full of strange sounds - made by actors concealed in the misty branches, who  hoot and howl and act as backing for the songs . The cast list describes them as 'Choir'. When all the charactes are rightfully matched and the mood change from the chill of man's cruelty to the celebration of love, they come into their own. It's  hard to imagine a more distracting and at the same time a more coherent setting for such a fragmented play.

All the lead performances were good, from the breathless Rosalind(Rosalie Craig)  dressed as a man and a quirky Amelie-riff Celia (Patsy Ferran) to Paul Chahidi's Oscar Wilde-inspired Jaques.

Comic relief was provided by hero Orlando's contest  with Charles, the Duke's wrestling champion,  given the huge disparity of size between the contestants, and a very funny later scene with various  members  dressed in Aran sweaters  on all fours, proving that even sheep can be imbued with  individual characters.