BRANAGH BRINGS OUT GREAT PERFORMANCES IN 'AS YOU LIKE IT'.Byline: DAVID David, in the Bible David, d. c.970 B.C., king of ancient Israel (c.1010–970 B.C.), successor of Saul. The Book of First Samuel introduces him as the youngest of eight sons who is anointed king by Samuel to replace Saul, who had been deemed a failure. KRONKE >TV CRITIC There's a lot of plot in William Shakespeare's "As You Like It," so if one story line doesn't engage you, just wait a while. Kenneth Branagh has moved the action to 19th-century Japan, where British merchants have set up shop, and all manner of intrigue and romance is preparing to spring into action. Branagh has focused his adaptation on the playful romance between Rosalind (Bryce Dallas Howard) -- daughter of the Duke Senior (Brian Blessed Brian Blessed (October 9 1937) (pronounced /ˈblɛsɛd/, or in the tradition of English poetry, Blessèd ), banished by his brother to the Forest of Arden -- and Orlando (David Oyelowo David Oyelowo (born 1 April 1976 in Oxford) is an English actor of Nigerian descent. He is married to actress Jessica Oyelowo and they have one son. Education Oyelowo first went to drama classes since he fancied a girl who was also going. ), who's in a bit of a brotherly power struggle of his own. Rosalind has escaped into the woods with her pal and cousin Celia (Romola Garai Romola Sadie Garai (born 6 August 1982) is an award-winning English actress. Early life Garai was born in Hong Kong[1][1] and relocated to Singapore at five before her family returned to Wiltshire in the United Kingdom when she was eight. ), posing as a man for safety's sake. When she is reintroduced to Orlando, about an hour into the film, he doesn't recognize her, and she (a little sadistically) goes about testing his affections for her. Eventually, love wins out -- not only for Rosalind and Orlando, but for just about everyone else in the cast, too, including Celia and Orlando's brother Oliver (Adrian Lester) and the fool Touchstone (Alfred Molina under an "Eraserhead" wig) and the less-than-hygienic Audrey (Janet McTeer). Jacques (Kevin Kline) roams through the action as a bit of a Greek chorus, delivering the famous "All the world's a stage" soliloquy soliloquy, the speech by a character in a literary composition, usually a play, delivered while the speaker is either alone addressing the audience directly or the other actors are silent. . Lovely visuals and charming performances mark this adaptation, but someone at some point might want to rethink Shakespeare's trope trope n. 1. A figure of speech using words in nonliteral ways, such as a metaphor. 2. A word or phrase interpolated as an embellishment in the sung parts of certain medieval liturgies. of a woman successfully duping Duping refers to the practice of exploiting a bug in a video game to illegitimately create duplicates of unique items or currency in a persistent online game, such as an MMOG. all while wearing men's clothing. In Shakespeare's day, audiences might've bought it because, after all, the woman in men's clothing actually was a man. These days, however, you're going to lose some audience members trying to convince them that anyone would mistake someone like Bryce Howard for a guy. David Kronke, (818) 713-3638 david.kronke@dailynews.com www.insidesocal.com/tv AS YOU LIKE IT - Three stars >What: Kenneth Branagh places Shakespeare's romantic comedy in 19th-century Japan; Kevin Kline and Bryce Dallas Howard star. >Where: HBO Hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBO) A form of oxygen therapy in which the patient breathes oxygen in a pressurized chamber. Mentioned in: Ozone Therapy . >When: 9 tonight; also 4 p.m. Saturday, 10:30 a.m. and midnight Aug. 29, 10:45 a.m. Sept. 2, 4 p.m. Sept. 6, 2 p.m. Sept. 11. >In a nutshell: Agreeable adaptation of one of Shakespeare's slighter plays. CAPTION(S): photo Photo: Bryce Dallas Howard plays Rosalind, here masquerading as a man, in "As You Like It." The HBO production moves the Forest of Arden to 19th-century Japan. |
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