​ Shakespeare's As You Like It runs at the Open Air Theatre Regent's Park until 28 July 2018.

Shakespeare may well be the greatest playwright that ever lived, but that does not mean all of his 37 plays are an easy ride.

His most popular tragedies like King Lear, Hamlet and the 'Scottish Play' are thought provokingly profound in the extreme and resonate on every conceivable level.

These maintain a relevance today that is astonishing given they were penned well over 400 years ago.

Then there are his sparkling comedies led by A Mid-Summer Night's Dream and Twelfth Night, which are so wonderfully warm and laugh out loud funny.

But then there are a whole string of lesser performed works (Cymberline, Pericles and King John come to mind) that are performed less for a reason. These are for the purist.

And finally, there is a middle trance of the Bards plays that are mere frippery and whimsy, requiring a light heart and blind acceptance of coincidence.

As You Like It most certainly falls into this category.

So stick with me here and I think I have this right.

Rosalind is the daughter of Duke Fredrick, who has been exiled the Forest of Arden by his brother Duke Senior.

Rosalind falls in love with Orlando, a courtier deprived of his own birthright by his brother Oliver.

To compound Rosalind's problems still further her villainous uncle Frederick banishes her from court.

Nothing for it but to don a boy's disguise, take the name Ganymede and take off with cousin Celia and the court fool Touchstone into the same Forest of Arden to search for her father.

There, as luck would have it, she also comes across Orlando and, maintaining her disguise as a young man, decides to persuade Orlando of the folly of his love for Rosalind.

This culminates in Rosalind, playing Ganymede, pretending to be Rosalind, which only serves to reinforce Orlando's affection for him/her.

Moreover, this forest has comings and goings like you wouldn't believe with other characters poping up along the way.

(Spoiler alert) Everything eventually works out very nicely indeed and end's happily for everyone.

And now happily, As You Like It is playing at the Open Air Theatre Regent's Park until 28 July 2018 and (Spoiler alert to this review) it's an absolute, rib-tickling, splendiferous delight.

Having cribbed up on the twist and turns of the plot I knew the gist of the play but, with its Shakespearian English, there is always the chance one will get lost along the way.

Not with this production.

The ensemble - to a woman and man - brought the play to life.

The use of various north country and Scottish accents make the annunciation crystal clear and adds a real layer of humour to proceedings.

The initial up to date setting for Act one enables the production to be infused with the trappings of modern life wonderful effect.

And so we have a laugh out loud wrestling match complete with cheerleaders; a mobile phone used to play a love song wedding march and a pop-up tent as the boudoir for an hilarious hidden sex scene.

But when we head into the forest, a backwoods camp dominates the stage, and the Regent's Park location of the Open Air Theatre is used to its unique best.

The large cast all deserve the highest praise for providing a sparkling As You Like It.

But special praise must go to Olivia Vinall who creates the complete woman (cum man) in Rosalind.

And Danny Kirrane is oh so funny as Touchstone.

And for the icing on the cake of this production of As You Like It, there is a number of musical numbers by Charlie Fink (former frontman of Noah and the Whale).

The Open Air Theatre

Finally, of course, there is the Open Air Theatre itself.

The most wonderful of theatrical experiences.

And totally unique.

Where else could the stage manager need to warn that she might need to pause the performance, on the evening I was there, because Donald Trump could be arriving by helicopter at the American Ambassador's residence in the park and the noise might be distracting.

Luckily the president stayed away and the noisy fly past was from a small flock of parakeets. I will happily live with that.

See AllWays Traveller to the Open Air Theatre :

www.allwaystraveller.com/allways-features-home/the-open-air-theatre-regents-park-london

Useful links

​ https://openairtheatre.com/production/as-you-like-it