First Nighter: Hot Times Right Now at London's National Theatre

LONDON--For whatever reason--recent artistic director Rufus Norris's enthusiastic approach?--things at the National Theatre are popping. The following is only a sampling of what's going on, just about all of it hot stuff:

As You Like It--At first I wasn't certain William Shakespeare's comedy, with Polly Findlay directing, was going to be as I like it. What's viewed on the Olivier stage as the audience enters is something that could easily pass for a stock-exchange computer room with traders in colorful uniforms circulating among the desks. The floor looked like a color-field painting. The initial scenes, involving the court where Rosalind (Rosalie Craig) and Celia (Patsy Ferran) run into the problems sending them into the forest of Arden, were played in a cramped downstage area. Then when Arden looms and Orlando (Joe Bannister) is also on the run, those desks are abruptly cleared and along with the chairs are lifted upward and upward into a metallic-tree environment, thanks to set designer Lizzie Clachan. A thoroughly pleasurable romp ensues. The entire cast is a treat, especially Paul Chahidi as Jaques. His depiction of self-absorbed melancholy is particularly humorous.

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