Retired - Not Out: As You Like It - Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon

We're off to Stratford to see "As you Like It":

Thanks to TripAdvisor we managed to get a really good deal at our favourite hotel, just across from the theatre, so we'll be spending the night:

This will do nicely:

A wander around the shops and then I started to get warning signs that my blood sugar was dropping, so into Starbucks for a drink and a blueberry muffin. I THINK the boss was just adjusting her sunglasses and not letting me know what she thought of me:

More wandering around, during which Amanda bought a dress (possibly to be worn on an outing later in the week). Back to the hotel to change, and then out to The Vintner for dinner:

While we waited for our food I was fascinated by the heels on the shoes of a woman sitting at the next table:

Lest anyone think that I ONLY eat burgers, I should point out that occasions such as this are almost the only times that I do eat them - so I make the most of it:

A much more sophisticated "Filleted plaice with caper beurre noisette, seasonal vegetables & new potatoes" for Amanda:

Yes, we both had room for dessert:

A short walk to the theatre, where we enjoyed a cup of Earl Grey in the Swan Bar:

Through the theatre shop, where this item from my wishlist was on sale:

and into the auditorium:

Obligatory selfie:

And so to the play itself:

Since we started our theatre going some years ago we have seen gender-blind productions, colour-blind productions, modern-day productions, futuristic productions and some productions that permed three out of the four.

We've seen gender-blind productions in which pronouns were changed to accommodate the casting, and others where they weren't.

We've even seen a production of Julius Caesar where Brutus, Cassius and Octavius were played by females as females – but the changes made to the script were often nonsensical (“Brutus, she is an honourable man").

I understand, but am rarely swayed by, the justifications for making these changes (Amanda is much more forgiving). Imagine, then, my surprise at just how much I enjoyed this "age-blind" production of "As You Like it".

The fundamental conceit is that what we are watching is a "play within a play" – a group of actors are seen in a modern day rehearsal room, "re-producing" (from memory) their performance of the play from 45 years earlier. The average age of most of the cast is well north of 65, and Oliver Cotton (as Jaques) is 79.

The production begins with the house lights up, and actors in modern day rehearsal clothes enter, chatting amongst themselves and with the audience. A prologue (perhaps more accurately described here as a breach of the fourth wall) by Michael Bertenshaw (Oliver) explains that, for a variety of reasons (including death) six of the original actors could not be present for this reunion. Their roles would be played by the four much younger actors seen on stage (sometimes with scripts in hand) and (in the case of Adam, who would have been 114) by an old coat – sometimes laid reverentially over a rehearsal chair and sometimes folded up and held by one of the other actors.

The action begins, the house lights dim imperceptibly slowly and we're off.

As noted so often before, I lack the skills and experience to offer an informed review of the production, but suffice it to say that I thoroughly enjoyed it and there were a number of genuine "laugh out loud" moments. Much of my enjoyment stemmed from the joy of watching seasoned professionals, comfortable and confident in their own abilities, having fun while doing full justice to the play. At 73, Geraldine James as Rosalind was phenomenal – still luminously beautiful while bringing a lifetime of experience to the role. This was her RSC debut (shame!) and the first time I had ever seen her in real life – I was genuinely shocked at how tiny she is.

It was also great to see Maureen Beattie as Celia and a real treat also to see Malcolm Sinclair as Orlando. Twenty-odd years ago the playwright and dramatist Marcy Kahan began writing a quintet of radio plays in which she imagined that a number of intriguing gaps in the memoirs of Noel Coward might be explained by his being engaged as either a sleuth or a spy at various points in his life. The plays have been broadcast by the BBC, and I have recordings of them - all feature a brilliant performance by Sinclair as Coward.

After the interval, the second half began as informally as the first, and I was able to grab these illicit (and therefore somewhat blurred) shots.

Maureen Beattie and Geraldine James:

A more general shot of the company, with Maureen Beattie seen talking to Malcolm Sinclair while he reverentially holds Adam (that is to say, the old coat):

And then it was all over. A wonderfully entertaining evening, and a genuine pity that the house was not full - I suspect that the RSC had engaged in some re-allocation of seats, as the Upper Balcony was entirely empty on the night we were there.

A walk of a few steps across the road to the hotel, and both grateful that we weren't faced with the journey home.

Breakfast the next morning at our favourite table, with the RST visible through the window:

My seat at this table offers a perfect view of the road outside and, at that time of day, the constant stream of young boys on their way to school. How fitting that the night before, Jaques's speech about the Seven Ages of Man had included the lines:

Then, the whining schoolboy with his satchel

And shining morning face, creeping like snail

Unwillingly to school.

Checked out, the car packed and left in the hotel car-park and time for another stroll around the town: