As You Like It

Synopsis

Written around 1600 and set in two contrasting communities; city and forest. Rosalind and Celia have been banished from Court. In fear of their lives, they disguise themselves and seek sanctuary in the Forest of Arden. Amongst the magical and ancient boughs, Rosalind discovers her exiled father, uncovers various truths about herself and others...and falls helplessly in love. But in this earthly paradise nothing is quite what it seems: men do not always act like men, and women can be anything at all...Uplifting, awe-inspiring and immense fun, Shakespeare's wondrous comedy is a joyous celebration of the liberating power of love and the redeeming spirit of nature.

Our Review:

24 March 2003

George Bernard Shaw must be revolving in his grave. Barely has spring sprung and already four major productions of his least favourite Shakespeare play ever have hoved into view. This, the first, is the opening salvo in the RSC’s inaugural season under the stewardship of new artistic director Michael Boyd and, as such, is keenly awaited.

Well, I come not to bury Boyd, or more specifically Gregory Thompson, who directs, but, while there is much to commend, the production overall is a disappointment. Most curious is that after plumping so unashamedly for a crowd-pleaser this production of the play should receive such a muted reception, at least on the night that I saw it.

Key Shakespearean comic staples are present and correct in this adaptation – updated to the Victorian age. As with Midsummer Night’s Dream there is a flight from court to the freedom of the forest; romance, complicated by the assumption of the heroine, Rosalind, of the identity of a man (Mer...