"As You Like It" is a charmer

Though "As You Like It" has always been termed a comedy, its dark underpinnings include family warfare, sibling rivalry bordering on fratricide, theft, lies, and the treachery of the Elizabethan police state. Thanks to Shakespeare — the probable pseudonym of Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford, the putative writer of the canon — these criminal elements are interwoven with a pastoral romp involving a brace of upper and lower class lovers and some of the best repartee ever penned.

Result? All’s well that ends well. Rosalind gets Orlando; Celia gets Oliver; Silvius gets Phoebe; the mean duke gets his, while the good duke is a hero to his people, and on and on to the finish line. These subplots are punctuated with lovely songs lyrically voiced by Summer Broyhill.

They also are countered by the acerbic comments of Jacques (Mark Dold) and Touchstone (Vincent Randazzo). The latter’s set piece, “If,” given late in the play, is Shakespeare’s summation of his purpose: If this were true, if that were true, if anything were true, you might be transformed.

And that’s what the play is about—transformation. Director Jessica Stone has imbued the production with sweetness and elicited from her cast a spontaneous eagerness to be something they aren’t. We are led a merry chase through the Forest of Arden from Rosalind (the lanky Meredith Garretson, who developed an endearingly gangly stance to show she’s a he), to her Orlando (the appealing Jon Orsini, who articulates his confusion up to the moment he gets the girl), to Celia (the cute and funny Nikki Massoud, whose concern for her best pal, Rosalind, drives part of the plot), to Jacques whose “Seven Ages of Man” is about generational transformation.

Side note: Dold’s histrionic performance as Jacques needs rethinking as does his chopped-up rendition of “Seven Ages.” Though obviously skilled, it is as though he is daunted by the familiarity of this famous piece.

That raises a question about the American approach to classical plays. The tendency to send up, throw away, find punch lines and otherwise dismiss the verse instead of finding characterizations within it leaves a void at the center of many productions, as though Shakespearean verse were a mountain to climb. Each performer operates alone when ensemble playing is what’s needed. Galloping through the verse at top speed means actors lacked coaching to understand each word and phrase in order to find ease of delivery and a through line for their characters.

The Globe’s design team delivers in spades. Ingenious, moveable set pieces, fetching costumes, lighting, the clever use of existing “telephone poles” that hold up the lighting grid, augmented by more poles to evoke the forest, contribute mightily to this production.

“As You Like It” runs through July 21 in the outdoor Lowell Davies Festival Theatre. You can also enjoy free pre-performance talks about the play in the Craig Noel Garden on June 25, 26, 27, 28, 29 at 7 p.m.