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As You Like It
by WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
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Rosalind waiting for marriage |
ROLE
COMPANY
THEATRE
CITY
DIRECTOR
ATTENDANCE
PERFORMANCES |
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COMPOSER/SOUND DESIGNER
ILLINOIS SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL
EWING THEATRE
NORMAL, ILLINOIS
JAMES ALEXANDER BOND
3614
14
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| Overview |
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"All the world's a stage and all the men and women merely players; They have their exits and their entrances, And one man in his time plays many parts, His acts being seven ages..." Act II, Scene 7, As You Like It
Director James Alexander Bond describes the plot's action as follows. "Near the Forest of Arden lies a noble court where many recent changes have left the people in a state of turmoil. The old duke, Duke Senior, has been banished to the forest by his younger brother, Duke Frederick, leaving behind his daughter, Rosalind. Meanwhile, a youth named Orlando enters a wrestling match in the hopes of winning enough money to escape the unjust state in which he has been kept by his brother, Oliver. During this event, Rosalind and Orlando meet and fall in love. Unfortunately, after the victory, when Duke Frederick discovers Orlando’s parentage, he is exiled to the forest. Fearing that Rosalind is drawing attention from his own daughter, Celia, Frederick banishes Rosalind to the forest as well. When Rosalind makes her escape, she decides to dress as a man to protect herself, and takes Celia, her best friend, and the fool Touchstone along with her. In the forest, where lovers and fools abound, Rosalind encounters Orlando and uses her guise as a man to test his love. In the end, both Frederick and Oliver are converted, and we find that true love isn’t a fairy-tale – it’s about honest connection."
In addition, the As You Like It script includes lyrics to songs that characters sing. These songs create the added challenge of having to write new music and melodies based on Shakespeare’s lyrics and the chosen setting by the director.
Bond set the play in the 1930’s, allowing us to explore the great, woodsy and folksy music of the era as a “sound” for the Forest of Arden. In our discussions he said I shouldn’t have to feel completely “stuck” in 30’s era folk music but could also contrast this with music that would be common in the “court” of a nearby 1930’s metropolis. The play starts in court but by intermission is firmly rooted in the Forest of Arden where the family is exiled. Bond described a third type of “godly” music reserved for the appearance of the god of marriage at the very end of the play. It was also determined that with the exception of the “godly” music at the end, all other music in the Forest of Arden should be performed live by the actors. For the court music and “godly” music, I would create 1930’s era, digitally realized, big band music that would be played through the sound system. The live music would be more a challenge. Bond goes on the describe the music of Arden. “They are folk in a forest with instruments. The music should have a distinctly 1930's sound and relay much ‘down on your luck’ but still have your guitar and harmonica music from that period. For the overall sound of the show, I hope to hear a contrast between the struggle and protest of folk music and the big band energy of the court.” He added that all the music from the Forest of Arden would be performed by what he called “former courtiers.” “I plan on ‘twanging up the rustics’ in an Irene Ryan as ‘Granny’ from Beverly Hills Hillbillies.”
We compared various folk artists’ styles from the period but settled on music similar to that of Woody Guthrie for the music of Arden. Our actors were able to play washboard, clarinet, guitar, tub bass, and accordion so this arrangement of instruments would be the sound of our band. I created very rough demo recordings of me singing and playing these songs. I purposefully designed the sound of these demo recordings so they would sound like actual folk recordings from the 1930s. The actors used these demos to create simple arrangements on their instruments as listed above. |
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Example Paperwork
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Sounds
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| EXAMPLE 1 |
OVERTURE |
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As an overture for our As You Like It, I created this big band era sounding piece using MIDI and digitally sampled instruments. It was purposefully made it sound like it could be playing back from a record player. The second version has not been altered with the record player effect.
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| EXAMPLE 2 |
UNDER THE GREENWOOD TREE |
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The demo for this song was performed in a 1930’s folk style and the recording was purposefully made to sound like old recording media. Our performers used this demo to learn the song’s structure, melody and guitar part and then also inspire further musical arrangements on the other instruments they could play. The first example is my demo recording. The second example is a live recording from a performance. The same is true for the subsequent sung song examples.
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| EXAMPLE 3 |
HEIGH-HO, THE HOLLY |
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Heigh-Ho, the Holly is used to cover Duke’s private chat with Orlando and is a bittersweet celebration of life that should be more lovely then rowdy.
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| EXAMPLE 4 |
FIRST HALF END |
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In the first example, the idea was to create an orchestral underscore that is bittersweet, yet firmly planted in the “big band” instrumentation of the court. The second example is a more comedic ending presented by a whimsical solo clarinet.
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| EXAMPLE 5 |
SECOND HALF OVERTURE |
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In a similar fashion the first overture, this piece is of the world of court and utilizes the sound of big band. It was purposefully made it sound like it could be playing back from a record player during the beginning of the piece.
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| EXAMPLE 6 |
O SWEET OLIVER |
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O Sweet Oliver is a mocking tune sung by Touchstone without accompaniment. The song has two parts: it dismisses Oliver as if he thinks Touchstone should follow him like a puppy followed by a rude dismissal of Oliver.
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| EXAMPLE 7 |
HE THAT KILLED THE DEER |
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He That Killed the Deer starts off as a lamentation for mourning the killing of the animal, but later begins to make light of the mourning.
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| EXAMPLE 8 |
IN THE SPRINGTIME |
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This song is an upbeat tune that is to entertain Touchstone and Audrey and included a dance break. Bond wanted this to be the most upbeat song in the show and described it as needing to be “a toe tapper, danceable tune that folks should be humming as they walk to their cars.”
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| EXAMPLE 9 |
GOD UNDERSCORE |
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This is an orchestral underscore used to signal the entrance of Hymen, the god of marriage, and then became underscore for his dialogue until he begins singing his wedding song. This piece falls into Bond’s idea of “godly” music so it has been realized with prerecorded orchestral sounds that augment the live performance and singing.
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| EXAMPLE 10 |
WEDDING SONG |
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The wedding song is sung by Hymen along with other “wedding planners” joining in on their instruments. We also though it would be nice to include heightened sounds of animals in the forest given the divine nature of the moment.
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| EXAMPLE 11 |
FOREST OF ARDEN EXAMPLES |
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These are three examples of difference environmental underscores used to transform the Ewing Theatre into the Forest of Arden
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| EXAMPLE 12 |
AIRPLANE MOMENT |
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The Ewing Theatre is an outdoor venue, and this means we must contend with the sounds of traffic, trains, and airplanes interrupting the performance. Bond determined to make a moment out of air traffic. If an airplane happened to fly close enough to disturb our performance, we stopped the performance and played this instead.
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| Production Photos |
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Reviews
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“It was up to Rasbury to take the lyrics and set them to an authentically gritty Appalachian folk sound, arranged for guitar, mandolin, washtub bass and the like.”-Pantagraph |
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