Shakespeare’s As You Like It is notorious for being a plot‑light, surreal meander through the Forest of Arden. A place where lovers trade identities, characters swap names, clothes, roles, and social positions, and logic politely steps aside so desire can run the show.In Fingerless Theatre’s production that looseness becomes a strength: Arden turns into a playground for reinvention, where a commanding Rosalind steers the hurly‑burly and the ensemble leans into wit rather than just whimsy.

Under Alex Kendall Robson’s astute direction, the energy feels purposeful, shaped into something instinctively frolicsome and joyful, yet willing to let darkness sharpen the edges. The visual world shifts from winter into a golden summer, charting the move from Duchess Françoise’s rigid, inhospitable court to Rosalind’s banishment and the heady freedom beyond it. The court sits in cold grey austerity, its severity sharpened by Holly Nesbitt’s lighting and the restrained costuming of Josh Carter and Lily Moody; but once we reach Arden, the design warms and bursts open – light softens, colour returns, fabrics loosen, and the stage feels suddenly sun‑struck and generous.

The stellar ensemble moves with fearless vitality – darting, dancing, wrestling, and tally‑hoeing with a bold physicality that keeps the text alive in the air. The fact that this play is ostensibly a dizzying game of switcheroo – characters, genders, and loyalties flipping in a heartbeat – yet never loses us – shows just how smartly they navigate the chaos. When you’re a shepherd in love with a girl who’s in love with a girl disguised as a boy – it’s complicated.The result is an exuberant celebration of love, lust, freedom – and the delicious mess of being human.

Jade Fuda’s Rosalind is the engine of that charge, swift‑tongued, emotionally agile, and utterly at ease shifting between disguise, desire, and comic provocation. Opposite her, Pat Mandziy’s Orlando brings an open, generous earnestness that gives the romance real lift, his physicality matched by a sincerity that never tips into sentimentality. Larissa Turton as Celia is a boisterous force in her own right, savvy and full of sass, while Zachary Aleksander’s Touchstone brings an effortless, off‑kilter crotchety old‑man comedy routine that earns plenty of laughs.

Likewise, Max Fernandez (Le Beau/Amiens/Hymen) delivers a puckish comic beat throughout, his lovely singing voice enriching songs and landing in clean, confident notes. He and Brea Macey also make a great pair of clowning sheep – it’s this kind of daffy silliness that keeps the production’s humour buoyant.

Sonya Kerr is excellent as dual duchesses. She shifts from Duchess Françoise’s cold authority to Duchess Senior’s steadier calm, with real gravitas and an obvious love of the language. Nicholas Starte is a silver‑fox delight as Orlando’s brother. He begins in clipped authority and cool disdain, then flips into a fabulously hick‑shaded, love-sick shepherd.

Both Starte and Jack Elliot Mitchell (who delivers comedically crisp, well‑differentiated turns as Adam, Charles, and William) share lively scenes with Meg Bennetts as Audrey/Phebe. Bennetts is an expert in charm and shameless mugging – and it absolutely works – capped by some brilliant tongue‑duel gags that send up the lustier side of romance.

Alex Kendall Robson makes excellent use of the Jaques/Corin pairing: as Jaques he delivers the “All the world’s a stage” monologue with a cool, reflective melancholy, and as Corin he fires off his zingers with grounded, plain‑spoken quips that sharpen the contrast between the two roles.

Music sits in the bones of this As You Like It, and the ingenious blend of beautifully sung contemporary numbers and classical fragments feels organic rather than gimmicky. With Zachary Aleksander shaping the sound world, Hannah Buckley and James Robin slip in live music that flirts with the edges of pop and pastiche. Buckley’s violin threads Vivaldi’s Four Seasons through the action, her playing a bright, expressive nod to cycles of renewal and emotional weather.

Fingerless Theatre may be a relatively new player on the scene, but they’re already shaking up the classics with a confidence that crackles far beyond their years. It’s thrilling to watch a young company refuse to treat Shakespeare like a revered museum piece, cracking it open instead with sparkling quippery, humour, with lashings of juicy mischief.

This is Shakespeare as living theatre, at its most accessible. As You Like It is a true riot of wit and want, with its own unique spark that gives Sport for Jove a run for their money. With work this strong so early on, the rest of us should be paying very close attention.

As You Like It plays at The Flightpath Theatres until 14 March. For further details see :https://fingerlesstheatre.com/

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