Falls Church’s Trinity School at Meadow View is devoted to the study and discussion of the great classics of literature and philosophy. Yet the eleventh-grade students, following the lead of Shakespeare’s Duke Senior banished in the Forest of Arden, must—for the time being—settle for “tongues in trees” and “books in the running brooks.” This weekend the eleventh-grade class is performing Shakespeare’s pensive pastoral comedy “As You Like It” at the Pozez Jewish Community Center of Northern Virginia in Fairfax at two public performances this coming Friday and Saturday.
The play concerns a duke in exile with his loyal retainers; they prefer “the icy fang … of the winter’s wind” in the woods over the intrigue of the royal court, for the Duke Senior’s brother, Frederick, has usurped the throne. Duke Senior’s daughter Rosalind and Duke Frederick’s daughter Celia are among those who “resort to the forest,” disguised as brother and sister, Ganymede and Aliena. Soon, however, Rosalind finds herself in love with Orlando, a noble youth who also has family turmoil and must also seek refuge in the forest. Much of the humor of “As You Like It” revolves around how Rosalind, disguised as a young man, interacts with Orlando.
We had an opportunity to attend a dress rehearsal. Anna Bray shows a true earnestness in her role as exile-at-court Rosalind, while Anisa Jalloh as Celia conveys a comic flair as she realizes Rosalind is in love. Francesca Bayer, the melancholy Jaques, is effective in presenting the “seven ages of man” in the play’s famous “all the world’s a stage” speech. Seth Luisi is a stern Duke Frederick, while Shane Monroe (Duke Senior) and Alexander Pappas (Orlando) play off each other well in the scenes in which they meet in the forest.
Co-director James Clancy notes that students are enjoying the play, even as they approach it with utmost seriousness. Miss Bray (Rosalind) states: “Producing a Shakespeare play provides a beautiful opportunity” both to perform and to ponder the unique views of the world that “the characters in the play depict.” Sophia Hughes, who plays Touchstone the fool, adds: “Being Touchstone has allowed me to see the world from his eyes and perspective. This makes the world seem more dismal in some ways, but in others it broadens my view on life and allows me to see better in the world.”
The show’s costumes are outstanding. Most suggest the Elizabethan era, although some have a nineteenth-century touch. The velvety, regal garments are color-coded for meaning. Duke Frederick and those at court usually wear blue, while the exiles in the Forest of Arden are generally garbed in green. Jaques wears brown, for the character fits into neither the world of court politics nor of life in the woods.
Trinity School at Meadow View is unusual in that eleventh- and twelfth-grade dramas are performed as a core part of the curriculum. All students take part, spending more than seventy classroom hours learning acting terms and skills, memorizing lines, and practicing for two public performances.
Co-director Patty Whelpley notes that the play was chosen to enhance the school’s “humane letters” curriculum: “Our students are very familiar with reading and discussing Shakespeare in our Socratic Seminar-style classes; by the end of 12th grade, they will have already read and discussed ‘Richard II,’ ‘Hamlet,’ and ‘Macbeth.’ Since our students are easily able to read Shakespeare, we felt like ‘As You Like It’ was the perfect level of challenge for our 11th grade students to perform. It’s fun and lighthearted, yet it also carries some of Shakespeare’s deeper themes that help the students see how masterfully Shakespeare shines a critical spotlight on certain societal injustices or mores, even during a comedy.”
As Mrs. Whelpley suggests in her comments, it is left to the viewer to make an ethical decision: is it better to be at peace in exile and allow a usurper to reign, to remain in the physically comfortable court of a tyrant, or to choose neither and, like Jaques, withdraw into one’s own private world?
On December 15 and 16, the eleventh-grade class is performing Shakespeare’s pensive pastoral comedy “As You Like It” at the Pozez Jewish Community Center of Northern Virginia in Fairfax at two public performances. Admission is free, but adults must show ID to enter.
