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As You Like It A Radical Retelling

Church Hill Theatre 

Five stars 

 

All the world’s a stage in Canadian provocateur Cliff Cardinal’s show, which has arrived in town this week to close Edinburgh International Festival’s theatre programme after touring the globe. This was demonstrated on Thursday night at least, when some of what happened in the auditorium proved to be just as interesting as what was provoking it.

 

 Two early interventions saw a gentleman on one side of the auditorium and a lady in the front row make their feelings on what they were witnessing explicitly plain. When the person  attempting to leave shortly afterwards unfortunately fell on their way out, it caused Cardinal to shut the show down for a couple of minutes in an action even he didn’t expect.

 

But what were they so upset about? So-called radical Shakespeares, after all, are ten a penny in Edinburgh on the Fringe just now. In a show that calls its own bluff several times over, that would be telling. 

 

When Cardinal decided to name his new show after Shakespeare’s play, he knew exactly what he was doing. The original As You Like It is a rom-com with much clowning, donning of disguises and an inevitable happy ending. Cardinal’s show is both all and none of these. The footlight-flooded stage may be draped in a scarlet curtain at the start, but it is the second half of Cardinal’s title that hints of liberties to come.

 

Cardinal was last in Edinburgh several years ago on the Fringe in a solo play called Huff. That looked at the way young indigenous Canadians living on the edge are driven to drink and drugs. Coming from Cree and Lakota heritage, Cardinal has seen that world first hand. This follow up commissioned by Toronto’s Crow’s Theatre goes way further in a show that lets no-one off the hook.

 

If there is one thing Cardinal and Shakespeare have in common, it is that the work of both is full of ghosts. In his delivery, Cardinal raises plenty of spirits who he is possessed by beyond those in the text. Mark E Smith, Andy Kaufman, Bill Hicks, Lenny Bruce and Austrian playwright Peter Handke’s own early provocation, Offending the Audience, all come to mind. Even Shakespeare is probably in there somewhere. Go and see for yourself before it finishes on Saturday. But expect nothing, and leave your prejudices at the door, whichever way you’re walking. 

 

Until 23 August, 8pm


The Herald, August 23rd 2025

 

Ends 

 

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