'AS YOU LIKE IT': NO ROMANTIC ROMP.

Byline: Evan Henerson Theater Critic

LOVE'S a beast.

No, check that. Love's a snarling, fanged gargoyle who enjoys gnawing our most tender feelings until they've been ground to sawdust. Then that merciless creature turns around and does the same thing to somebody else.

The proof? After spending an operatic evening with Rosalind, the heroine of Shakespeare's ``As You Like It,'' I can conclude that Cupid's arrow doesn't simply hurt - it pierces, guts, lacerates, infects and disembowels. You wish a better fate on Rosalind, her beau Orlando and the lovelorn clan of the Forest of Arden.

And, yes, we're talking about the same famous Rosalind who falls in love at first sight, dresses up as a man and instructs a duped Orlando how to woo her. Rather nifty trick, that, and one that several generations of Rosalinds have actually enjoyed pulling off. Oh, sure, the journey has its pitfalls, but who wouldn't dig being this much in the romantic driver's seat?

Rebecca Hall's Rosalind, that's who. < The daughter of Great Britain's Shakespeare maven Sir Peter Hall - whose troubling production of ``As You Like It'' is at the Ahmanson Theatre - Rebecca Hall is a sight to behold and a Rosalind to remember. Strikingly tall with long limbs and a face that registers every little wound, Hall commands the production almost against her will.

There's nothing askew about a Rosalind who charts her own romantic path while simultaneously discovering how much of a minefield love actually is. But with this take, you risk making a near tragedy out of a pastoral comedy, and at more than three hours, without a single word cut from Shakespeare's text, that's a perilous journey that Sir Peter Hall is asking us to take.

There are several immortal characters in ``As You Like It.'' The acerbic clown Touchstone (played by Michael Siberry), the melancholy environmentalist Jaques (Philip Voss), a philosophy-loving Duke and his usurping brother (both played by James Laurenson) and Orlando (Dan Stevens), no slouch of a wooer himself. And given their latitude to examine, question, pause and contemplate, how can these actors not be grateful? Shakespeare performed by seasoned professionals - this production originated in England's Theatre Royal Bath and has been touring since 2003 - is a rare treat.

But admiration doesn't always equate to elation. As new characters are introduced nearly two hours in and songs or plot-irrelevant speeches threaten to bog down the action, you start wishing for less melancholy and more zip. When Orlando confesses to the disguised Rosalind that the wooing charade is getting wearisome, you fight the urge to stand up and yell, ``Yes! Exactly! You two kids are crazy for each other! Take off the hat, Roz, let your hair down, and the both of you go off and find a motel room somewhere!''

We should give Rosalind a break, though, since Rebecca Hall's performance suggests a character who - in addition to taking no pleasure in the game of her own making - can't seem to figure a way to extricate herself. She takes out her frustration most keenly on the haughty shepherdess, Phoebe (Charlotte Parry). Phoebe's transgression? Spurning the doting Silvius (David Birkin) when she falls in love with the disguised Rosalind. And when she finds out the truth and is essentially tricked into marrying Silvius, Parry lets out an animal wail. Love, as previously stated, stinks.

Evan Henerson, [phone]

evan.henerson(at)dailynews.com

AS YOU LIKE IT - Two and one half stars

Where: Ahmanson Theatre, 135 N. Grand Ave., L.A.

When: 8 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday, 2 and 7:30 p.m. Sunday; through March 27.

Tickets: $20 to $75. Call [phone].

In a nutshell: A great central performance and across-the-board excellence in a joyless rendering of Shakespeare's comedy.

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Photo:

Rebecca Hall, as Rosalind, and Dan Stevens, as Orlando, star in director Peter Hall's production of Shakespeare's ``As You Like It'' at the Ahmanson Theatre.