Jonathan Groff to star in RSC’s all-male As You Like It

Tony Award-winning Broadway star Jonathan Groff will play Rosalind in a new production of As You Like It for the Royal Shakespeare Company.

Directed by co-artistic director Daniel Evans, the show is part of the RSC’s newly announced season of shows revealed this morning. 

The production will mark Groff’s RSC debut, and he is joined in the show by Fisayo Akinade as Celia.

Groff said: “‘Holy f****** s**t’ – that was the subject of the email I sent to Daniel Evans in response to his email asking me if I would be interested in playing Rosalind in an all-male production of As You Like It at the RSC. In 2019 I went to Stratford-upon-Avon for the first time to take in the historic town and see a gender-swapped production of The Taming of the Shrew.

“The experience of seeing Shakespeare performed so brilliantly in Stratford hit me in a very primal way. Since that stirring experience in Stratford, I’ve spent the last six years doing mostly theatre in New York. I am incredibly grateful for this opportunity to come back to Stratford and perform Shakespeare for the first time in my life. The early prep work I’ve been digging into with Daniel and Patsy Rodenburg, their emeritus director of voice, has already got me in a state of ecstasy.”

Evans added: “I have admired Jonathan for over 20 years, from his role in Spring Awakening to his Tony Award-winning performance as Franklin Shepard in Merrily We Roll Along and, most recently, as Bobbie Darin in Just in Time. Jonathan has a rare ability to connect deeply with an audience. His generosity, his emotional availability and his total commitment are exactly the qualities I wanted for our Rosalind.

“In our production of As You Like It, where Jonathan will be joined by the wonderful Fisayo Akinade as Celia, I hope to give audiences an opportunity to experience Shakespeare’s most sweet-tempered comedy in a way which is playful and joyful, and which inspires conversation about our world now. Ultimately, this is a play which celebrates love in all of its many forms. Love is love and, however we identify, it falls where it falls. I can’t wait for us to share it with audiences”.

In the play, Rosalind is banished from the court of Duke Frederick but falls in love with Orlando before fleeing to the Forest of Arden with her cousin Celia. Further casting and creative team members are to be revealed.

The production runs in Stratford-upon-Avon from 26 September to 7 November, with a press night on 6 October.

See more about the season.