This is a kinda dumb post bc there’s only 3 more performances including this evening but I just wanted to put in a good word for The Public Theater’s Mobile Unit. 

Along with Romeo + Juliet and next month’s The Winter’s Tale at Shakespeare In The Park, The Public Theater has a small Shakespeare play every year that tours across all 5 boroughs of New York City for a month, performed outdoors with free admission. This year it was As You Like It, and I went to the show last night in Brooklyn’s Sunset Park. 

It was an absolute delight! After a brief technical difficulty at the start where the mics got cut off, the show went without a hitch and I was so impressed with the energy all of the performers brought to the play. It had a cute gimmick where actors would play multiple characters: at the court they would be someone mean and in the forest they’d play someone much nicer. The best example is Kai Thomani Tshikosi who plays a massive, intimidating wrestler at the court but later plays the still massive yet tender, amorous Silvius in the forest. 

There is also Jonathan Gabriel Mousset who plays Orlando’s older brother Oliver at the court but then plays Amiens, the Arden Forest minstrel (and later Oliver again). When the play transitions from the court to the forest about 30 minutes in, the audience is greeted to the new scene by the forest folk with a song called ‘Under The Greenwood Tree’ led by Amiens on guitar. This was just the loveliest tune… I’m still humming it to myself and I hope a video exists of it somewhere. COME HITHER! COME HITHER! What an absolute banger. I know Shakespeare wrote the original words but I guess the song is different for every As You Like It production so whoever arranged this version deserves a medal. Mousset is listed as music director of this show so perhaps he’s the genius.

As for the rest, Zia Lawrence is radiant playing Rosalind- I mean Ganymede, Jose Gamo is outstanding as Orlando (the slow motion wrestling bit at the beginning had me hollering), Peter McNally was brilliant as the court fool Touchstone, Jessica Ko was hilarious when playing any of her 3 roles, and the most memorable performance was given by Zoë Goslin as the melancholy Jacques, no doubt in part to her hypnotizing rendition of the classic ‘All The World’s A Stage’ monologue and for delivering the best line of the entire play: “I can suck melancholy out of a song as a weasel sucks eggs!”

The company as a whole deserves a round of applause for being entertaining enough for little kids. This was a very family friendly production, and a hile a few of them didn’t last the whole \~100 minutes I was very impressed that most of the youth in attendance were sitting attentively watching the entire thing. That is a very impressive accomplishment for a Shakespeare production and a testament to the effort the entire cast and crew put into this show. 

There is another performance in Sunset Park in about 3 hours from the time I post this, and then 2 more this weekend in Prospect Park at 6:30. Even if you’re not familiar with Shakespeare, I would be surprised if you watched this show and left disappointed. 

Long live The Public Theater! 🎭 

As You Like It - Public Theater’s Mobile Unit: 10 stars out of 10 (Free Show!)