Reviews
As You Like It


DAVID BIRNEY AS JAQUES IN AS YOU LIKE IT

 

"The real deal."

"Westerly's Colonial theatre is putting on a dandy As You Like It through Aug. 3, a show that sings thanks to a very strong cast."

"The Colonial usually manages to recruit some pretty solid talent for its productions, but this year it has outdone itself with the return of veteran actor David Birney as the melancholy JacquesÉ. Birney has done a lot of theater along the way, both on Broadway and in regional houses. He was in Westerly five years ago to play Shylock in the Colonial's Merchant of Venice..."

"...fine ensemble work and a good deal of energy... There has been no tinkering with the characters, it's just plain unadorned Shakespeare..."

"Birney..., gives us a pensive Jacques, a Jacques with the weight of the world on his shoulders. His delivery is deliberate, reflective, and oh so sensitive, which is very much in tune with the character..."

"...This is first-rate theater, a real keeper of a show."

- Providence Journal
Theater review:
01:00 AM EDT on Saturday, July 19, 2008
By Channing Gray
Journal Arts Writer

"...But when a production as first-rate as this comes along, we are transformed into delighted and enraptured groundlings..."

Speaking of definitive presentations, the character of Jacques gets an interpretation you won't forget by David Birney, a familiar face from film and TV who has had extensive experience doing Shakespeare. Jacques is the archetypal philosophical depressive, who admits, somewhat proudly, "I can suck melancholy out of a song, as a weasel sucks eggs." His most familiar monologue begins: "All the world's a stage/And all the men and women merely players." Birney does subtle wonders with that speech, bemused throughout and acting out each role ("then the lover/Sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad/Made to his mistress' eyebrow") with appropriate voice and mannerisms..."

"...This wonderful and memorable production."

- The Providence Phoenix
Royal fun
Colonial's rousing As You Like It
By BILL RODRIGUEZ
July 22, 2008

"...Shakespeare has returned to Wilcox Park this year and in a big way.

"...Colonial Theatre's production of "As You Like It" is full of summer sensations that shouldn't be missed. From the action-packed opening scenes to the epilogue, the production offers a night of professional theater mingled with warm summer winds and the sounds of chirping crickets."

"...A year's hiatus by Colonial Theatre has resulted in a re-energized Shakespeare Festival, featuring a professional cast of players and an upbeat production."

"...Award-winning actor David Birney, the production's headliner, doesn't enter the play until 45 minutes into the show. But when he does, he lives up to his reputation and delivers the melancholy Jacques without missing a beat. In one scene he picks up a bowl that the sickly old servant Adam (played by Bucky Walsh) just ate from and Birney's forlorn look conveys his deep contemplation on the shortness of life."

"...Seeing "As You Like It" is an evening well spent."

- South County Independent Arts & Living Headlines
Review: Summertime Shakespeare enlivens Westerly nights
By Laura E. Kelly/Independent Staff Writer

"Shakespeare's festive comedy "As You Like It" makes a perfect evening for theatergoers in Westerly's Wilcox Park this summer... Even the "melancholy Jacques" - one of the Bard's most delightful portraits of sourness - seems to have a smile on his face as he bewails the hunting of a deer in the woods, or the sad notes of a song by one of the woodsmen."

"...Notable television and film actor, David Birney, a fiery Shylock several years ago, brings great life to Jacques, a philosophical courtier known as "Monsieur Melancholy." When he hears a sad song he begs to have it repeated, for, he says, "I can suck melancholy from a song as a weasel sucks eggs." Jacques doesn't exactly fit into Shakespeare's story, except as a foil to all the lovers who inhabit the stage around him. It's as if we can only realize how fully alive Shakespeare's lovers are, when we see someone who's devoid of affection. Still, his dour take on the world provides much entertainment, and Birney invests Jacques with a self-deprecating humor that makes him all the more human."

- The Westerly Sun
Tuesday, July 29, 2008 12:03 PM EDT
Review: "As You Like It"

"The Colonial Theatre has returned to Wilcox Park with a bang... one of its best productions in memory. "As You Like It" is sharp and smart and assured. David Birney - the marquee name in this production - doesn't have a lot of stage time as Jacques, but he gives the melancholy character an emotional heft and delivers the famous "All the world's a stage" speech with elan."

- The Day, New London, CT
A Smashing 'As You Like It' in Wilcox Park
By Christina Dorsey July 30, 2008