Outdoor Family Theatre: As You Like It
The RSC bring an outdoor family theatre show to Stratford Upon Avon this Summer with ‘As you like it’.
‘No sooner met but they looked; no sooner looked but they loved.’
You might not expect to meet your true love at a wrestling match, yet that’s exactly where Cupid takes aim at Rosalind and Orlando. But family feuds send them running in different directions.
A forest, several disguises and a lot of love poetry later, will they find their way back to each other? Love at first sight isn’t quite as straightforward as you might think…
Feel the wind through the trees of the Forest of Arden as you enjoy As You Like It in our outdoor venue, The Holloway Garden Theatre. At just 1 hour 20 minutes long, this edited version is a great first introduction to Shakespeare, or just a lovely way to see his timeless comedy in the glorious surroundings of the Swan Theatre Gardens.
Click here to find tickets for the outdoor family theatre performance of As You Like It.
SYNOPSIS
As You Like It subverts the traditional rules of romance. Gender roles, nature and politics are confused in a play that reflects on how bewildering yet utterly pleasurable life can be.
EXILE IN THE FOREST OF ARDEN
Duke Senior has been forced into exile from the court by the usurping Duke Frederick. He takes refuge in the Forest of Arden with a band of faithful lords. Rosalind, his daughter, is kept uneasily at court as a companion to her cousin Celia, Frederick’s daughter.
A WRESTLING MATCH
Orlando de Boys, the youngest son of the late Sir Rowland de Boys, has been kept in poverty by his brother Oliver since his father’s death. Orlando decides to wrestle for his fortune at Frederick’s court, where he sees Rosalind and they fall in love.
BANISHMENT
The Duke banishes Rosalind, fearing that she is a threat to his rule. Celia, refusing to be parted from her cousin, goes with Rosalind to seek Duke Ferdinand in the Forest. For safety they disguise themselves – Rosalind as the boy Ganymede and Celia as his sister Aliena – and persuade the fool Touchstone to accompany them.
On hearing of a plot by his brother to kill him, Orlando also flees to the Forest and takes refuge with the exiled Duke. Posting love lyrics through the forest, Orlando encounters Rosalind disguised as Ganymede. She challenges his lovesick state and suggests that he should prove the strength of his love by wooing Ganymede as if he were Rosalind.
LOVE BLOSSOMS IN THE FOREST
Elsewhere in the Forest love also blossoms: the shepherd Silvius suffers unrequited love for Phoebe, who has fallen for Ganymede, while Touchstone is pursuing the goat-herd Audrey.
Oliver, who is sent into the Forest to hunt down Orlando, has his life saved by his brother, and becomes filled with remorse for his past behaviour and falls in love with Aliena.
Frustrated by the pain of his love for Rosalind, Orlando is unable to continue wooing Ganymede, so Ganymede promises he will conjure up the real Rosalind and that all the lovers will finally be wed…
