In Kenneth Branagh’s fifth Shakespearean adaptation he sets As you Like It in 19th century Japan with a string of English and American thesps.

It’s hard to see why Branagh chose to set Shakespeare’s pastoral comedy in the East and it’s characters as merchants when the shift in location is so half-hearted. A kabuki performance, a style of Japanese theatre where female performers play both men and women, leaves little impact. No doubt Branagh was attracted to the comparison’s with Shakespeare’s love of gender swapping, but it’s unlikely an audience would even notice unless it was pointed out to them.

An even briefer battle between a virtually naked Orlando De Boys (David Oyelowo) and a sumo wrestler is cut short before any suggestion of homoeroticism could pass a scholar’s lips. Irrelevant of man on man wish fulfillment, more of the Japanese culture would have put a fresh twist on a known classic.

Most of the action takes place outdoors and could be anywhere, yet the Japanese setting is used to good effect when samurai-like warriors overthrow Duke Senior (Brian Blessed with grey hair) and banish him to the Forest of Arden on the orders of the Duke’s younger brother Frederick (Brian Blessed but with dark hair). Left at court is the elder Duke’s daughter Rosalind (Bryce Dallas Howard) and her cousin Celia (Romola Garai).

During the wrestling scene Rosalind falls for Orlando whose elder brother Oliver (Adrian Lester) has disinherited him and wishes him dead. Orlando also flees to the forest with Rosalind and Celia not far behind when Duke Senior becomes too unreasonable even for his daughter.

What follows is quintessential Shakespeare. Rosalind dresses up as a boy Ganymede to escape detection. She encounters Orlando and goes about testing his love for her.

One of the main problems with Rosalind’s role is that it’s impossible to sufficiently suspend our imaginations she’s a man. Shakespeare’s characters have some of the worst memories for faces in literary history and Orlando would have to have been registered blind to believe it. Consequently the whole rouse falls down.

Apart from not taking style notes from Del La Grace Volcano, Dallas Howard does the best she can in a production that still manages to feel staged despite the cast racing around the great outdoors.

Some of Shakespeare’s more memorable lines belong to As You Like It and Kevin Kline as the morose Jacques gets to deliver “All the world’s a stage…” while he sulks around the forest. Garai plays damsel in distress with poor comic timing and Court Jester Touchstone (Alfred Molina) and his bride-to-be Audrey (Janet McTeer) make a not so merry farce of their roles. Warring brothers Orlando and Oliver hold their own.

Part funded by HBO As You Like It has already been shown by the channel on US television and presumably isn’t having a theatrical release stateside. Its conventional approach is more suited to the classroom as a study aid than the cinema screen.

As You Like It opens in the UK on 21 September 2007

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