The Beatles meet the Bard in romp at Theatre Calgary
Daryl Cloran's As You Like It is a theatrical cocktail that combines Shakespeare's pastoral comedy with the music of The Beatles, adds some John Fluevog shoes and sweetens it all by setting the story in British Columbia in the Swinging Sixties. That would be the 1960s, not the 1660s when Shakespeare wrote this story about the many aspects of love.
Cloran, who has been artistic director of Edmonton's Citadel Theatre since 2016, says the idea for his As You Like It was hatched in 2015 with Christopher Gaze, the artistic director of Vancouver's summer Shakespeare festival Bard on the Beach.
“That year, I had directed a production of Shakespeare's Love's Labors Lost that had a speakeasy jibe. We used a lot of 1920s jazz standards. It was a real success. Christopher asked if, hypothetically, we could get the rights to The Beatles catalogue, and where would I use it. I pitched him the idea of As You Like It because I have always thought of it as a musical play.”
Cloran admits he and Gaze never really thought they'd get access to the music of The Beatles, but asked anyway, assuring the agents it would be for just the one production at the festival in Vancouver.
“We were genuinely surprised when they said yes, and that their only stipulation was The Beatles were not to appear in the play as characters. The rights didn't exactly come cheap, but we didn't have to pay Shakespeare so we gave the money to The Beatles instead.”
Cloran's Beatles and Shakespeare mash-up premiered at Bard on the Beach in the summer of 2018 to rave reviews and sold-out houses. It has since travelled to Edmonton, Winnipeg, Chicago, Milwaukee, Vancouver again, Washington D.C. and now to Theatre Calgary until March 24.
“Each time we wanted to revive it, we had to ask for the rights again, and, to our gratitude and surprise, they have just kept saying yes.”
As You Like It uses 23 Beatles songs, everything from She Loves You and I Want to Hold Your Hand, to I Am the Walrus and All You Need Is Love.
“To use that many songs, I had to replace half of Shakespeare's text, but this is not a jukebox musical where we stop the story for a song. The songs really do advance the plot and characters, and some of them were just so obvious. When the wanderer Jaques says he met a fool in the forest, it screams out for us to have him sing The Fool on the Hill.”
Cloran has directed all eight incarnations of his As You Like It, including the one currently playing at the Max Bell Theatre in Arts Commons.
“I'm just so connected to it, and so far, it has never been anything but vastly rewarding for me. No actor has been in all eight versions, but there are several who have been in the last three because Vancouver, Washington and Calgary are a bit like a tour.”
Any musical requires triple-threat actors who can act, sing and dance. For his As You Like It, Cloran has upped the ante by stipulating five of his 17 cast members also have to be musicians who play instruments as well as sing, dance and act. Then there are also several who had to learn to wrestle.
“To get the audience in the mood for the play, as they enter, there is a match on stage so it is advisable to arrive at the theatre a good 30 minutes in advance, so as not to miss any of the fun,” says Cloran.
He says he chose to set As You Like It in B.C. in the 1960s because “that was an era when people wanted to escape to the land, and people left Vancouver for the Okanagan, just as our characters flee to the Forest of Arden. Also, the '60s was the beginning of Allstar Wrestling in Vancouver, and it was a vibrant scene. Again, it just seemed as obvious to have the story set in the '60s as it did to use The Beatles music to lift Shakespeare's story in such a beautiful way.”
The rights didn't exactly come cheap, but we didn't have to pay Shakespeare so we gave the money to
The Beatles.