As I took my seat at the Forest of Arden (Vincent’s Eco Estate, Mġarr) in anticipation of WhatsTheirNames Theatre’s annual Shakespearean number, my thoughts turned to the beautiful, remote setting and how well-suited this was to host the Bard’s pastoral comedy As You Like It. My second thought – wine in hand as the sun set around me – was that I should have brought along some mosquito repellent for the occasion.

Staged between June 13 and 18, As You Like It formed the latest of the company’s acclaimed Shakespeare in the Garden series. Showcasing Shakespeare’s more light-hearted pieces, the series has come to be a welcome prelude to the balmy summer months to come, with this year’s eighth annual production telling a youthful coming of age story of love and family.

The play starred Becky Camilleri as Rosalind alongside Nathan Brimmer, Gianni Selvaggi, Tina Rizzo, Sandie von Brockdorff, Joseph Zammit and Philip Leone-Ganado, who also directed the production.

Each of the actors played multiple roles, illustrated by simple wardrobe shifts and colourful character interpretations.

Celia (Rizzo) and her cousin Rosalind (Camilleri) share an intimate bond that is immediately established, with Rizzo’s interpretation imbuing a mischievous playfulness to her character. The two seem unperturbed by the political troubles that tore apart their duke fathers.

This is, however, short-lived. Soon comes the stern Duke Frederick (Zammit) who sends his niece Rosalind into exile. His daughter Cilia follows her cousin suite, and they soon find themselves in the Forest of Arden. They are joined by the jester Touchstone (Brimmer) and his infections “jingle”.

Meanwhile, Orlando (Selvaggi), whom we meet at the beginning of the play in dispute with his elder brother (von Brockdorff), falls in love with Rosalind at first sight. After she is banished, he is forced to flee his home following his brother’s persecution.

It wouldn’t be a Shakespeare play, light-hearted or otherwise, if we weren’t struck to the core along the way

Rosalind, now disguised as Ganymede, and Celia, disguised as Aliena, meet the old shepherd Corin (Selvaggi) in the forest and offer to buy his master’s cottage.

Meanwhile, Orlando and his old servant Adam (Rizzo) stagger through the forest until they meet the exiled Duke Senior (Zammit) and his courtiers, including the melancholic lord Jaques (Leone-Ganado).

Orlando writes simplistic poems for Rosalind and places them among the trees. Rosalind, who is also in love with Orlando, finds these and eventually meets him as Ganymede and pretends to counsel him to cure his amorous ailment.

She does not disclose her true identity to him, rather frustratingly. Celia looks on at this first in horror, then in resignation.

Camilleri’s character comes most into her own as Ganymede – perhaps the disguise liberates Rosalind more than it conceals her. Selvaggi’s Orlando displays a boyish passion akin to his simplistic love poems – sometimes exuberant, sometimes scattered. Their passions are curtailed by Rosalind being in Ganymede form. 

Leone-Ganado makes for an excellent Jacques. He inhabits the character’s restless malcontent and existential weight while also imbuing him with added depth (he is shown to have more dimension than we imagined when he invited Orlando to sit with him).

When the melancholy Jacques speaks the famous lines “All the world’s a stage” and recounts of the seven ages of man from “infant” to “mere oblivion”, the whole experience of the play takes on a larger form. It wouldn’t be a Shakespeare play, light-hearted or otherwise, if we weren’t struck to the core along the way.

The long play came to a close with a wedding scene officiated by Hymen the Greek god of marriage (Leone-Ganado) with much song and merriment that extended beyond the stage, the audience brimming with delight.

There aren’t all that many plays I would endure mosquito bites for, but WhatsTheirNames Theatre Shakespeare productions are certainly among them.