She's just a girl, disguised as guy, playing a girl.
"As You Like It," one of Shakespeare's most beloved romantic comedies, follows a cast of mismatched lovers to the Forest of Arden. In this refuge for those driven out of society, everybody gets lessons in love.
The action is fierce in the first half: murders are attempted, ribs are cracked in wrestling matches, a brother is disowned, a niece is exiled and loyalties are sorely tested. For those who end up in the Forest of Arden during the second half, the perils are chiefly falling in love or being outwitted by wit.
The play introduces some of Shakespeare's most memorable characters, notably the sharp-tongued, ever-jaded Jacques. Each major character represents a quality of love: familial love is personified by Rosalind and Celia, brotherly love by the Dukes, Orlando and Oliver, the blind love of devotion by Silvius, the love of service by Adam and Corin, the love of self by Jacques and the love of lust by Touchstone.
In keeping with the play's magical spirit, director Hamilton Clancy is adapting this "As You Like It" into the classical Victorian era. Everything becomes Steampunk when the scene shifts to the Forest of Arden with expanded music by Natalie Smith and Andrew Gombas.
PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE:
THURSDAY @ 9 PM
FRIDAY & SATURDAY @ 7 PM
