As You Like It: Shakespeare at Stratford Series

by William Shakespeare, Robert Smallwood

The Arden Shakespeare, in association with the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, presents a new series of volumes on Shakespeare's plays in performance. The series discusses and analyses the wide range of theatrical interpretation stimulated and provoked by the most frequently performed plays. Each volume explores how different directors, designers and actors have interpreted and adapted an individual play in terms of narrative focus, themes and characters, scenery and costume. The focus is on productions at Stratford-upon-Avon since 1945, on the basis that the record of Shakespeare performances at Stratford's theatres offers a wider, fuller and more various range of interpretation than is offered by any other theatre company. The volumes also set this record in a wider geographical and chronological context by means of a historical overview of earlier productions and of productions beyond Stratford. Published in conjunction with the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, each volume features a wealth of photographs (many of them not previously seen in print) drawn from the archive of RSC performance materials held in the Trust's library at the Shakespeare Centre in Stratford. Shakespeare at Stratford will surprise, inform and delight both students and scholars of Shakespeare and performance history and the general reader with an interest in theatre.

Genres: Classics, Plays, Shakespeare, Drama, Fiction, Theatre, Romance

280 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1599

About the author

William Shakespeare was an English playwright, poet, and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon" (or simply "the Bard"). His extant works, including collaborations, consist of some 39 plays, 154 sonnets, three long narrative poems, and a few other verses, some of uncertain authorship. His plays have been translated into every major living language and are performed more often than those of any other playwright. Shakespeare remains arguably the most influential writer in the English language, and his works continue to be studied and reinterpreted.
Shakespeare was born and raised in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire. At the age of 18, he married Anne Hathaway, with whom he had three children: Susanna, and twins Hamnet and Judith. Sometime between 1585 and 1592, he began a successful career in London as an actor, writer, and part-owner ("sharer") of a playing company called the Lord Chamberlain's Men, later known as the King's Men after the ascension of King James VI and I of Scotland to the English throne. At age 49 (around 1613), he appears to have retired to Stratford, where he died three years later. Few records of Shakespeare's private life survive; this has stimulated considerable speculation about such matters as his physical appearance, his sexuality, his religious beliefs, and even certain fringe theories as to whether the works attributed to him were written by others.
Shakespeare produced most of his known works between 1589 and 1613. His early plays were primarily comedies and histories and are regarded as some of the best works produced in these genres. He then wrote mainly tragedies until 1608, among them Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, Othello, King Lear, and Macbeth, all considered to be among the finest works in the English language. In the last phase of his life, he wrote tragicomedies (also known as romances) and collaborated with other playwrights.
Many of Shakespeare's plays were published in editions of varying quality and accuracy during his lifetime. However, in 1623, John Heminge and Henry Condell, two fellow actors and friends of Shakespeare's, published a more definitive text known as the First Folio, a posthumous collected edition of Shakespeare's dramatic works that includes 36 of his plays. Its Preface was a prescient poem by Ben Jonson, a former rival of Shakespeare, that hailed Shakespeare with the now famous epithet: "not of an age, but for all time".

Reviews

[Lisa of Troy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yep, I’m going to spar with dead authors in this review. What else is new?

As You Like It has a complex storyline involving two sets of brothers at odds with each other slapped together with a bit of politics and romance.

The play has some of the most iconic lines in literature and has some laugh-out-loud moments that have stood the test of time.

Given the structure of this play, it is easy to see how these storylines are modernized and retold by authors of every generation.

But why I enjoyed this play is intricately related to how I read this play.

Before reading each scene, I ventured to read the Cliff Notes. These summaries illuminated a path of understanding and allowed me to get much more out of each passage—it enabled me to think about setting and metaphor, freeing my mind to reach deeper.

So contrary to the advice of Mortimer Adler in How to Read a Book, I recommend reading the secondary sources first instead of fumbling around uselessly in the dark.

Additionally, I had a hard copy of the text and an audiobook, allowing myself sufficient time to pause and reexamine the text as there are many characters to keep track of and archaic language while navigating a swiftly moving plot.

You simply can’t expect to get much out of this play listening at 3X speed. Take the time to slow down on this one. Maybe write your own version of As You Like It. Who knows? Maybe I will read it!

The Green Light at the End of the Dock (How much I spent):
Hardcover Text – The Complete Works of William Shakespeare $16.96 from Amazon
Audiobook – $84.99 per year through Everand

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Jan A Town Like Alice
Feb Birdsong
Mar Captain Corelli's Mandolin - Louis De Berniere
Apr War and Peace
May The Woman in White
Jun Atonement
Jul The Shadow of the Wind
Aug Jude the Obscure
Sep Ulysses
Oct Vanity Fair
Nov A Fine Balance
Dec Germinal

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[Bill Kerwin · Rating 5 out of 5]

As in "A Midsummer Night's Dream," "Hamlet" and "Antony and Cleopatra," Shakespeare in "As You Like It" is able to join disparate elements in unusual proportion into a unified whole of tone and mood which may be rationalized but never completely explained. What I love about this play is the way in which it develops a conventionally suspenseful plot--complete with goodies and baddies, action-packed scuffles and wrestling matches, lovers "meeting cute," etc.--at breakneck speed for all of the first act, and then slows to something close to a halt once it reaches the Forest of Arden.

This is as it should be, since this forest is a place of magical transformation just as certainly as Oberon and Titania's fairie wood, a place where time stops and love grows and both are discussed and exemplified in language both witty and profound. At the end, all plot strands are resolved in what should be an unsatisfactory fashion, but somehow still manages to satisfy not only the characters themselves but also the audience, who have both been transformed by the timeless experience of Arden.

[Henry Avila · Rating 5 out of 5]

Orlando, the youngest, and most loved son of the late Sir Rowland de Boys, ( set in France in the 16th Century) is being mistreated by his older brother Oliver, the middle son Jaques, is away at school, since Oliver inherited most of the rich estate, and money, he has the power of the purse to do anything . He, Oliver is jealous of his sibling's superior attributes, Orlando lacks education, possessions, totally dependent on his brother, but the very simpatico boy's qualities, nevertheless shines brightly through, causing Oliver who hates him, to hate him even more. He arranges a wrestling match between Orlando and the vicious wrestler Charles, who has crippled three previous opponents and gives special orders to kill his brother... Things don't go as planned, and Charles is the one carried off unconsciously to the surprise of all, Rosalind witnesses this event and falls in love with Orlando. The political situation in the dukedom, at the court of Duke Frederick, who overthrew his brother Duke Senior, and exiled him is hazardous, the shaky ruler fears plots against him, all are potential enemies, his daughter's Celia's best friend and companion is her cousin Rosalind, the daughter of Duke Senior, which makes for an uneasy situation. Duke Frederick the paranoid royal, banishes his niece Rosalind, from court and threatens her with death if she remains, the loyal cousin Celia, will not abandon the person she loves the most in the world. They the two cousins secretly leave the palace, dressed like men for safety reasons during their travels, Rosalind becomes Ganymede, and Celia, takes the appropriate name Aliena, for additional help the court fool, Touchstone, also goes, he is a lot smarter than he looks. Meanwhile warned by the longtime family servant, old Adam, that Oliver is plotting to kill him, Orlando... the two flee to the Arden Forest, where the exiled Duke Senior lives with his followers . Duke Senior, is rather enjoying himself, no responsibilities, a leisurely existence in the beautiful woods, the food while not luxurious, is enough for his simple needs, shelter quite adequate for his people too, he doesn't care about losing power. Then the needy men and women, escaping the tyranny of his cruel brother, arrive, Celia, Rosalind, ( who while disguised, likes to play amusing tricks on Orlando) Touchstone, Adam, Orlando, and many others. And the nervous evil one Frederick, is bringing a vast army to crush the oblivious inhabitants of the forest paradise. One of Shakespeare's better comedies, still after 400 years , it will please readers who like to be entertained, and this not serious tale, does indeed accomplish that very well.

[Sean Barrs · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was at Shakespeare’s Globe in London yesterday watching this play and it was fab! I then came home and read it (got to love the literary life!)

The best thing about the performance was the fact that Orlando was played by a woman who was less that five feet tall and Rosalind was played by a man was way over six feet tall. Needless to say, this lead to many comic moments. Here’s some shots of the performance:


-Orlando & Rosalind



They only had to stand next to each other on the stage for the audience to burst out laughing.

The play displays much of what Shakespeare does best. There are explorations into gender politics and sexuality because of the layers added into the play; there are men playing female characters who then in turn pretend to be men, which makes it even more complex. As with most of his comedies, I find the magic of the work is lost on the page. These are plays that are meant to be performed!

Unlike many of Shakespeare’s plays, even the comedies, this was very light and breezy. Nobody died. Nobody suffered. And the ending was a mass matchmaking that only left me feeling warm inside. It’s an entertaining piece to watch, though once you’ve got your head round the plot it won’t make you think any further.

It is a funny piece, but not quite as good as Twelfth Night and I think it suffered a little with a background cast of pretty standard Shakespearean characters rather than standout personalities.

Certainly not his best comedy, though it is still quite fun!

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

Book Review
3 of 5 stars to As You Like It, a pastoral comedy and play written by William Shakespeare around 1599.

Rosalind falls for Orlando for many reasons in Shakespeare’s play As You Like It. Since Orlando is such a small man compared to Charles the wrestler, when Orlando beats Charles, Rosalind thinks that the “young man” is capable of great strength and survival despite his small frame. He has some hidden strength and power that he is able to fight up and beat his large opponent. He is such a free spirited man and seems so approachable. He is the good guy or the “boy next door” type. He has determination and skill. Orlando is powerful in his words too. His speech is eloquent and very convincing. He just seems like such a perfect man that any woman, particularly Rosalind, could fall for him.

Orlando comes across as a charmer and a seducer. He is quiet in some ways, yet he has an underlying sense of risk and danger. The darkness that surrounds him creates an aura of appeal to women. This is probably how Shakespeare intended the role to be played. He is a charismatic portrayer and wins the audience quite easily. When he is wrestling, he is strong and confidant, determined and willing. He could conquer the world. It seems as though he is the perfect actor for the role.

In the BBC version of As You Like It, the actor who plays Orlando reminds me of a weakened, run-of-the-mill schoolboy who hasn’t yet found himself. The character of Orlando is so much more. As a wrestler, he seemed to know what he was doing, but the match was so fake. At least in Olivier’s version, it looked somewhat possible for Orlando to beat Charles. In this version, I laughed at the whole scene. It seemed so fake. He was strong-minded, yet he didn’t have the physical appeal like Olivier did. Olivier looked like the Orlando I pictured. In the BBC version, the scenes between Orlando, Celia, and Rosalind seemed contrived. I thought Rosalind was just in a bit of shock over seeing Orlando win. I don’t think she was attracted to him or felt as though he was such a great man.

Olivier’s work is usually very close to the true Shakespearean plays, yet so are the BBC versions. It was hard to decide how I felt about these two. I though the casting was bad in the BBC version while in Olivier’s version, the casting was on target. I believed their every moves and emotions. The looks between Rosalind and Orlando were real, not just fake longings like those in the BBC version. I definitely preferred the Olivier version -- this time -- over the BBC one. It came closer to Shakespeare’s intentions.

About Me
For those new to me or my reviews... here's the scoop: I read A LOT. I write A LOT. And now I blog A LOT. First the book review goes on Goodreads, and then I send it on over to my WordPress blog at https://thisismytruthnow.com, where you'll also find TV & Film reviews, the revealing and introspective 365 Daily Challenge and lots of blogging about places I've visited all over the world. And you can find all my social media profiles to get the details on the who/what/when/where and my pictures. Leave a comment and let me know what you think. Vote in the poll and ratings. Thanks for stopping by. Note: All written content is my original creation and copyrighted to me, but the graphics and images were linked from other sites and belong to them. Many thanks to their original creators

[Ted · Rating 4 out of 5]

3 1/2+

Hm. Tried to resubmit this review earlier and all that happened was that it was posted that I'd just finished reading the play?!? Two years ago! What gives?

This is the second review of a Shakespeare play I’ve done. Happily, that means that I’ve read the second of my planned reads of all his plays, over the next ten years. So I’m on schedule. 8)

But it’s easy to be on schedule when you’ve barely started. 8/

Naturally, this review is structured a bit different from the first one I did (https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...) in which I posed questions about how I should go about this project, and played around with a sort of outline. In this one the outline has changed. We’ll see if it can become more permanent as it goes.

The Play

Like the first play I read, this is one of Shakespeare’s comedies. Evidence suggests that the play was written between June 1599 and August of the next year. Its first performance is uncertain, with 1603 a possibility. It was first published in the first folio in 1623.

Shakespeare took the story from a novel, Rosalynde, by one Thomas Lodge, that was first published in 1590.

Rosalynde was the most popular and one of the best of the pastoral romantic tales which were the fashion in the early 1590s. By 1598 the book was in its fourth edition. The story was thus likely to be well known to many in the original audience. Shakespeare followed his source fairly closely, though he added some characters of his own and changed most of the names.

As hinted above, it’s sometimes referred to as a “pastoral” comedy, where pastoral refers to a literary genre: pas•to•ral noun. A work of literature portraying an idealized version of country life.

As You Like It is one of the prime examples of pastoral literature. Whyso? Well, with the exception of three scenes, it takes place outside. The first two scenes are located in an orchard, and on a lawn. All remaining scenes (seventeen of them) are located in the “Forest of Arden”, near the geographical center of England***. There are actually a couple rather minor characters who are shepherds. And the view of life presented is certainly, if not quite idyllic, at least explicitly said more than once by the characters to be preferable to life in the courts, castles, etc. which are the other choice.

Of course this might be partly because several of the characters have been banished (unjustly) from those courts, castles, etc. by the play’s villains. So to some extent, Shakespeare tells a story about making the best out of a bad situation.

(***Note: This “Forest of Arden” may be a pun of Shakespeare’s? For elsewhere I see that the play is actually set in France, and if so, we might suppose that this also refers not only to the forest in England familiar to his audience, but also to the Adrennes region of present day Luxembourg/Belgium/France.)



The Forest of Arden (1888 - 1897, possibly reworked 1908), Albert Pinkham Ryder

But he also makes a case for the country life, especially through the character Jaques, a lord attending the Duke who has been banished, and has taken residence in the forest with his followers. Jaques plays almost NO PART in the play, other than to speak his lines, which offer his philosophical musings and opinions about the pastoral life and other human concerns beyond the mundane.

Jaques in fact represents, according to the Introduction in my edition, a break in Shakespeare’s main concern in his plays. “Hitherto he had balanced plot and character. Henceforward he was more interested in character, and he tended to pick out one or two persons in a play and to show their characters from every angle by bringing them into contact with a variety of persons and situations.”

This was totally new information to me, and one worth keeping in mind (assuming that it’s valid).

The twenty plays prior to As You Like It were: all the histories (ten) except Henry VIII (his last play); seven of the twelve comedies; only two tragedies (Titus Andronicus, Romeo and Juliet); and only one of the six problem plays (Merchant of Venice).

The eighteen plays coming after As You Like It: the one history, four comedies (Twelfth Night, Merry Wives, All’s Well That Ends Well, Measure for Measure), the other eight tragedies, and the other five problem plays.


The Play and I

I immediately realized that I knew absolutely nothing about this play. Despite the title being familiar, I’d never read it, and had no idea that it is from this play (and from the mouth of Jaques) that comes:

All the world’s a stage,
And all the men and women merely players.
They have their exits and their entrances,
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages. At first the infant,
Mewling and puking in the nurse’s arms.
Then the whining schoolboy, with his satchel
And shining morning face, creeping like snail
Unwillingly to school. And then the lover,
Sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad
Made to his mistress’ eyebrow. Then a soldier,
Full of strange oaths and bearded like a pard,
Jealous in honor, sudden and quick in quarrel,
Seeking the bubble reputation
Even in the cannon’s mouth. And then the justice,
In fair round belly with good capon lined,
With eyes severe and beard of formal cut,
Full of wise saws and modern instances,
And so he plays his part. The sixth age shifts
Into the lean and slippered Pantaloon
With spectacles on nose and pouch on side,
His youthful hose, well saved, a world too wide
For his shrunk shank, and his big manly voice,
Turning again toward childish treble, pipes
And whistles in his sound. Last scene of all,
That ends this strange eventful history,
Is second childishness and mere oblivion,
Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.

What can follow that? Yeah, the rest of the play. But I’ll leave it there. For a synopsis of the play, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/As_You_L...

I was surprised at how much I enjoyed the play. I’ve rated it slightly above Midsummer Night’s Dream (well, 3 1/2 to 3 1/2 at present, but 4 to 3 in stars). I’m sure the reason was that I was paying attention to Jaques and some of the other characters for their views on country living, on love, and on man’s rather unfortunate predicament in life (though in the context of the light-hearted play it doesn’t seem so bad).

The comedy of the play is comprised partly of the fact that the main female protagonist, Rosalind, is disguised as a man (Ganymede) throughout much of the play; her interactions with Orlando, desperately in love with Rosalind but not of course with Ganymede, are the source of the usual mistaken-identity humor. But much more than this is the repartee that Shakespeare provides between pairs of characters (Rosalind/Celia, Orlando/Jaques etc.) in scene after scene, overloaded to the point of bursting with puns and double entendres. The audience must have been rolling in the aisles. But these dialogues, hard enough for the modern reader to follow with her footnotes explaining archaic meanings and long lost turns of phrase, are impossible for a play goer to get much out of – yes, the smile is there on the face, but the guffaw is missing. (A problem for any of Shakespeare’s comedy writing, of course.)

But some of the humor can’t fail to come through. I really did laugh out loud at this exchange. Rosalind implores Celia about information on Orlando, who Celia has just said she’s met in the forest:

ROS. Alas the day! What shall I do with my doublet and hose? What did he when thou sawest him? What said he? How looked he? Wherein went he? What makes he here? Did he ask for me? Where remains he? How parted he with thee? And when shalt thou see him again? Answer me in one word!
CEL. You must borrow me Gargantua’s mouth first. ‘Tis a word too great for any mouth of this age’s size. To say aye and no to these particulars is more than to answer in a catechism.

(My emphasis.) Heck, Celia’s reply isn’t even necessary, though it does put a lovely phrase to the preposterousness of Rosalind’s command.


The play and thee (them really)

My Coleridge book (Coleridge’s Writings on Shakespeare) has naught but a bit of marginalia he wrote on Oliver’s speech to the wrestler Charles, as Oliver gives him permission, even an admonition, to kill his brother (Orlando) when he faces him in a match. Coleridge: “It is too venturous to charge a speech in Shakespeare with want of truth to nature. And yet …” I won’t bother quoting the rest, I’m not sure I understand the fineness of the point he makes.

Here’s a couple reviews by GR friends: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... (short) and https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... (longer, on Shakespeare’s use of Nature in the play).

In the play’s Wiki article, there are adaptations of As You Like It in several media mentioned here.


A Movie

I watched the 1936 film starring Laurence Olivier as Orlando and Elizabeth Bergner as Rosalind. When I finally finished reading the play and was ready to watch the DVD, which had been at my house from Netflix for months, I discovered that the disc was cracked. I should have taken this as a warning. Instead I searched Amazon and found that I could watch the same movie streaming at no cost (since I’m a Prime member).

I happily settled back to watch.

How do I loath thee?

Let me count the ways.

1. I had trouble understanding the dialogue. Not because of the Elizabethan language, the sound was just bad.

2. It didn’t even approach being funny. All the (admittedly difficult) dialogue that had them rolling in the aisles hundreds of years ago was gone, even the few lines that were quite readily humorous in our own age.

3. All the world’s a stage … was gone! Howso? Must have been a cost-cutting measure, because Jaques had been written out of the script.

4. But almost all of the songs written by the Bard for the play were there, set to insipid music and even crappy dance where that had been indicated in the play. (As You Like It the Musical)

Yup, it was a complete loss. If the DVD hadn’t been already busted I would have been tempted …

(Well, not a complete loss. Olivier was good.)


My Review

As you have already read it, I hope you Like It.

[Paul Haspel · Rating 5 out of 5]

As you know, William Shakespeare could write any kind of play his dramatic company might need, and he wrote all sorts of plays exceptionally well. A light, frothy comedy? Check. A grim tragedy that plumbs the depths of the human capacity for suffering? Sure thing. A history play written to capitalize on a politically aware audience's interest in the leaders of an earlier time? No worries. Therefore, it should be no surprise that, at about the same time at which Shakespeare wrote his immortal tragedy Hamlet, he also wrote one of his most pleasant and unfailingly pleasing comedies, As You Like It. That’s just how it goes, I suppose, when you’re the playwright who can do it all.

Set for the most part in the vaguely French “Forest of Arden,” As You Like It shows Shakespeare mixing stories of nobles and commoners in a way that is characteristic of his comedies. The plotlines are so many, and flow so thick and fast together, that I think numbering them may help. Ergo:

1. Orlando, the younger son of a deceased nobleman, has been robbed of his rightful inheritance by his older brother Oliver – who, for reasons even Oliver himself does not understand, has conceived a bitter hatred for his virtuous younger brother.

2. Another instance of fraternal discord: At the local ducal court, Duke Frederick has taken over the dukedom, and has exiled his older brother, Duke Senior (yes, the older brother's name is Duke Senior, “Duke Older” – I am not making this up).

3. In spite of all this family feuding, cousins Rosalind (daughter of the deposed Duke Senior) and Celia (daughter of the usurping Duke Frederick) are truly close, and utterly loyal to one another.

4. And oh, yes: Orlando and Rosalind fall in love at first sight.

By various means, all of these characters make their way to the Forest of Arden. Orlando has done so because his loyal servant Adam has warned him that older brother Oliver’s hatred of Orlando is becoming homicidal. Rosalind, who says of her unhappy situation that "I show more mirth than I am mistress of," is suddenly banished from court by Duke Frederick, and Celia loyally accompanies her beloved cousin into exile. As Viola in Twelfth Night pretended to be a young man named "Cesario," so Rosalind takes on the guise of a young boy called "Ganymede," knowing that two young women traveling alone in the wilderness would not be safe, as “Beauty provoketh thieves sooner than gold.” And, as in Twelfth Night, Rosalind’s taking of this manlike disguise provides opportunities for some gender-bending comic antics.

In the Forest of Arden, the exiles find that the banished Duke Senior and his retainers “fleet the time carelessly as they did in the golden world.” Duke Senior is philosophical about his banishment, saying, “Sweet are the uses of adversity,” and asserting the joys of the simple, Arcadian life: “And this our life, exempt from public haunt,/Finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks,/Sermons in stones, and good in everything.” Only “the melancholy Jaques” questions the suitability of the party’s helping themselves to the forest’s resources in order to sustain their pastoral lifestyle.

Jaques is one of the most interesting characters in As You Like It. He is the one who delivers the play’s most famous lines: “All the world’s a stage,/And all the men and women merely players. They have their exits and their entrances,/And one man in his time plays many parts,/His acts being seven ages.” Jaques’ cynical recounting of the Seven Ages of Man – infant, schoolboy, lover, soldier, justice, “pantaloon” (foolish old man), and “second childishness” – is a famous enough passage that a stained-glass window depicting the Seven Ages adorns a wall of the main reading room at the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C. And Jaques, with his misanthropic musings, makes one wonder if this melancholy man might be speaking for Shakespeare himself.

After all, Shakespeare himself was a writer for the working day; he had to write commercially viable plays if he was to maintain what at times must have seemed a precarious livelihood. No doubt he sometimes had cause to say, as Rosalind says at one point in the play, “O, how full of briers is this working-day world!” Knowing that, as part of the conventions of this sort of comedy, he must provide a wise fool, and must give him all sorts of wise-fool things to say, one can easily imagine Shakespeare looking at a particularly apt bit of wise-fool raillery he has just set down and saying to himself, as Celia says in Act I, “Well said! That was laid on with a trowel.”

And, knowing as Shakespeare did that this kind of comedy, like the romantic-comedy films of today, simply must end happily, I can’t help wondering if Shakespeare might have smiled grimly as he set down these lines of Rosalind’s, in reply to Orlando’s declaration that he is dying of love for Rosalind – “Men have died from time to time, and worms have eaten them, but not for love.” Is that sort of cynicism regarding the grandiose declamations of lovers closer to Shakespeare’s actual state of mind than the happy denouement dictated by the stage conventions of the time? It is an interesting possibility.

The “meta” quality of As You Like It is further emphasized by some elements of the play’s resolution. When Hymen, the classical god of marriage, shows up at play's end to sort things out and resolve the plot's many complications, it is a quite literal example of deus ex machina. And if you thought a double wedding was a good way to end a rom-com, check out the quadruple wedding that concludes As You Like It:

1. Orlando and Rosalind (of course);

2. Orlando’s reformed older brother Oliver and Rosalind’s faithful cousin Celia;

3. the love-struck shepherd Silvius and his once-disdainful ladylove Phoebe; and

4. the “wise-fool” clown Touchstone with the “country wench” Audrey (“a poor virgin, sir, an ill-favored thing, but mine own”).

Can a rom-com be too all-get-out happy? Shakespeare in As You Like It almost seems to be daring us to say so. “Go ahead, sirrah. Make thou mine day.”

[Hailey (Hailey in Bookland) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Definitely one of favourites. Loved it.

[Manny · Rating 2 out of 5]

Celebrity Death Match Special: As You Like It versus Generic Thriller

All the world’s a thriller,
And all the men and women cardboard characters;
They have their exits and their entrances,
And when you think they've gone, pop up again.
Sometimes they've got a twin, and sometimes more
Their death, ofttimes, is faked or not for real
Two different babes may turn out to be one
Or else one babe, mayhap, can yet be two
And so the plot creaks on, and stiffs pile up
Until the hero finds the Big Reveal
And all is clear until the sequel's start
And then a second sequel, then a third
The author dies, but further sequels come
Written by some unhappy press-ganged hack
Sans wit, sans taste, sans thought, sans everything.

[AiK · Rating 4 out of 5]

Сегодня нам непросто понять, в чем же была соль комедии. В те времена существовал обычай наследования старшим сыном всего наследства, которое было сделано для того, чтобы не дробить крупные состояния. Поэтому Орландо - жертва этого принципа наследования. В пьесе мы видим и оборотную сторону - узурпацию власти со стороны младшего брата Фредерика у старшего герцога, отца Розалинды. Принцип первородства вел к жестокой вражде, мы видим, что Оливер готов убить Орландо, не сам, а руками Чарльза (Шарля). Вместе с тем,Орландо повел себя благороднее, спася спящего старшего брата от нападения змеи и льва.
И даже разобравшись с первородством, пьеса довольно парадоксальна, и этим сложнее для понимания, чем остальные произведения великого драматурга. Переодевания героев создают путаницу не только у героев пьесы, но и у читателя\зрителя.
Как в любой комедии, дело кончается хэппи эндом - браком и не одним, а сразу четырьмя, и восстановлением прав старшего герцога.
Самый замечательный момент в комедии - это монолог Жака.
Весь мир – театр.
В нём женщины, мужчины – все актёры.
У них свои есть выходы, уходы,
И каждый не одну играет роль.
Семь действий в пьесе той. Сперва младенец,
Ревущий громко на руках у мамки...
Потом плаксивый школьник с книжной сумкой,
С лицом румяным, нехотя, улиткой
Ползущий в школу. А затем любовник,
Вздыхающий, как печь, с балладой грустной
В честь брови милой. А затем солдат,
Чья речь всегда проклятьями полна,
Обросший бородой, как леопард,
Ревнивый к чести, забияка в ссоре,
Готовый славу бренную искать
Хоть в пушечном жерле. Затем судья
С брюшком округлым, где каплун запрятан,
Со строгим взором, стриженой бородкой,
Шаблонных правил и сентенций кладезь,–
Так он играет роль. Шестой же возраст –
Уж это будет тощий Панталоне,
В очках, в туфлях, у пояса – кошель,
В штанах, что с юности берёг, широких
Для ног иссохших; мужественный голос
Сменяется опять дискантом детским:
Пищит, как флейта... А последний акт,
Конец всей этой странной, сложной пьесы –
Второе детство, полузабытьё:
Без глаз, без чувств, без вкуса, без всего.

[Darwin8u · Rating 4 out of 5]

"All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players:"
-- William Shakespeare, As You Like It, Act 2, Scene 7



'As You Like It' has many things to commend it as a play. It is entertaining and filled with fantastic lines. It contains many of Shakespeare's favorite tropes: gender bending, mistaken/hidden identities, family squabbles/usurpation, love/lust, revenge, etc. It starts off well too -- but in the end, for me, it just sort of fizzles and farts out a bit. Limps out, perhaps, is a better way of stating it. Surrenders to an almost contrived and overly neat "happy Hymen ending". THIS is Shakespeare at his most fit. He is at the top of his game. This play, however, seems to be a bit phoned in at the end. Perhaps, Shakespeare knew he was about to deliver Hamlet.

Also, to be fair, this play does GET a lot of play. It is a crowd pleaser. A romance. A fancy. So, perhaps I'm just wanting him, unfairly, to hit home runs every time at bat. Mostly, I was displeased with how easily the villains (if you could call them that) turned. What? Suddenly, out of the blue Oliver de Boys sees the light? What? And all it takes is for Duke Frederick to run into a hermit in the woods and becomes religious. Ok. Weak, but OK.

Also, I'm not a big fan of music in Shakespeare's plays. Some probably dig it. I'm not in that camp.

Here are, however, some of my favorite lines, as you like:

-- "Always the dullness of the fool is the whetstone of the wits." (Act I, Scene 2)

-- "I earn that I eat, get that I wear,
owe no man hate,
envy no man's happiness,
glad of other men's good,
content with my harm." (Act 3, Scene 2)

-- "Time travels in divers paces with divers persons." (Act 3, Scene 2)

-- "Men are April when they woo, December when they wed: maids are May when they are maids, but the sky changes when they are wives." (Act 4, Scene 1)

-- "Oh! how bitter a thing it is to look into happiness through another man's eyes." (Act 5, Scene 2)

[Piyangie · Rating 3 out of 5]

All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players. They have their exits and their entrances, and one man in his time plays many parts...

As the quotation implies, Shakespeare's As You Like It is a comedy of life. It demonstrates how human vices and virtues contribute towards social drama.

Consequences of right of primogeniture set the stage for the play. A younger brother usurps a dukedom, banishing the rightful heir while an elder brother, breaking the promise to his late father, acts tyrant to the younger brother. Their actions unleash a chain of events. The character response to these events forms the main part of the story. In addition, themes of love and marriage serve as pleasant fill-ins.

The play is not the best of Shakespearean comedies. The story is ridiculous in parts and the flow is incoherent. But, the unmistakable wit and humour of Shakespeare compensate somewhat for what is lacking. Some of the intelligent conversations provide much food for thought.

The play consists of some interesting characters. Rosalind is the most interesting because in the play, she plays the part of both woman and man, exhibiting strength and vulnerability. Celia is equally likable. Her unwavering loyalty to Rosalind is admirable. Both are resilient women that joined Shakespeare's list of heroines. Orlando is also likeable. His goodness coupled with Touchstone's wit and humour positively contribute towards the play.

The play had enough comedy to entertain me. I only wish the story was done better.

More of my reviews can be found at http://piyangiejay.com/

[Dilushani Jayalath · Rating 4 out of 5]

I shall not deem myself as someone who has the ability to write a review on Shakespeare thus I will take few words just to say that this is without doubt my favorite Shakespeare play yet. I am not well versed in Shakespeare neither do I have in depth knowledge on them but by my meager literary skills, I have judged this and it has come up as the victor. Yes at 26 years old I am still discovering Shakespeare. Don’t hold it against me.
As most majority (or maybe not even considering his most famous is a tragedy) I rather have more like towards his comedies and among them also I have this as my favorite. With time it may change but for now, this will remain on the top of my list. Rosalind is without doubt my favorite Shakespeare character with her realistic overlook of romance (and sometimes silliness). She has much more broad look at romance and even bring reality to Orlando. This has less of obnoxious characters which makes it much more attractive to the modern reader’s eyes. What really caught my eye was the homoeroticm or at least the slight innuendos that point towards it. Elizabethan stage itself blurred the lines of it and it seemed as if Shakespeare took advantage of it further with this. It in itself is a very interesting concept within the story.
Although I said I will only say few words, it seems I have overstated, so I shall take my leave. Adieu.

[Michael Finocchiaro · Rating 5 out of 5]

What an absolutely extraordinary play. I absolutely am in love with Rosalind (as I was with Beatrice and so many other Shakespearean heroines!) In fact, I think that she is up there with Dalia Rideout as my favorite heroine of all time. Her sense of humor, her ability to change and adapt, and her sharp wit make this play so alive.

I read this using a copy I had in high school (Coral Gables, Class of '87) and found "Michelle" wrote me a note about drinking some green beer for St Patrick's Day. Well, I truly have no recollection if I had green beer eons ago at the bequest of this maiden, but if she should read this lowly commentary, perhaps she can let me know? I checked and there were only three Michelle's in my senior class, one of which went by "Shelly", but I don't recall a friendship with either of them. So, please Michelle, if you are out there, how was that beer?

Back to the Bard, there is so much to recommend this fantastic play: Jaques (pronounced "Jakes" as in British slang for "toilet"), the melancholic poser; Touchstone, the adorable, bawdy clown; the wonderful impersonation of Rosalind by Ganymede played by Rosalid and the three love stories. More later...

Fino's Reviews of Shakespeare and Shakespearean Criticism
Comedies
The Comedy of Errors (1592-1593
The Taming of the Shrew (1593-1594)
The Two Gentlemen of Verona (1594-1595)
Love's Labour's Lost (1594-1595)
A Midsummer Night's Dream (1595-1596)
The Merchant of Venice (1596-1597)
Much Ado About Nothing (1598-1599)
As You Like It (1599-1600)
Twelfth Night (1599-1600)
The Merry Wives of Windsor (1600-1601)
All's Well That Ends Well (1602-1603)
Measure for Measure (1604-1605)
Cymbeline (1609-1610)
A Winter's Tale (1610-1611)
The Tempest (1611-1612)
Two Noble Kinsmen (1612-1613)

Histories
Henry VI Part I (1589-1590)
Henry VI Part II (1590-1591)
Henry VI Part III (1590-1591)
Richard III (1593-1594)
Richard II (1595-1596)
King John (1596-1597)
Edward III (1596-1597)
Henry IV Part I (1597-1598)
Henry IV Part II (1597-1598)
Henry V (1598-1599)
Henry VIII (1612-1612)

Tragedies
Titus Andronicus (1592-1593)
Romeo and Juliet (1594-1595)
Julius Caesar (1599-1600)
Hamlet (1600-1601)
Troilus and Cressida (1601-1602)
Othello (1604-1605)
King Lear (1605-1606)
Macbeth (1605-1606)
Anthony and Cleopatra (1606-1607)
Coriolanus (1607-1608)
Timon of Athens (1607-1608)
Pericles (1608-1609)

Shakespearean Criticism
The Wheel of Fire by Wilson Knight
A Natural Perspective by Northrop Frye
Shakespeare After All by Marjorie Garber
Shakespeare's Roman Plays and Their Background by M W MacCallum
Shakespearean Criticism 1919-1935 compiled by Anne Ridler
Shakespearean Tragedy by A.C. Bradley
Shakespeare's Sexual Comedy by Hugh M. Richmond
Shakespeare: The Comedies by R.P. Draper
Tyrant: Shakespeare on Politics by Stephen Greenblatt
1599: A Year in the Life of William Shakespeare by James Shapiro

Collections of Shakespeare
Venus and Adonis, the Rape of Lucrece and Other Poems
Shakespeare's Sonnets and a Lover's Complaint
The Complete Oxford Shakespeare

[Jeanette (Ms. Feisty) · Rating 4 out of 5]

The fun of Shakespeare's comedies isn't in the plots but in the pure genius of his language. Many of his best lines have become such staples of common usage that most people aren't even aware they're quoting Shakespeare. If they DO know, you can forget about asking them which plays the lines come from.

I find an intensely perverse pleasure in Shakespeare's inventive insults. I can only DREAM of thinking up such clever quips and comebacks in the heat of an argument. And if I could think them up, I wouldn't have the nerve to use them.

As You Like It has some of the best insults of all the Shakespeare I've read so far. Touchstone the Fool gets some of the funniest lines. I'd love to play that part. I know, it's a man's part, but I'd be willing to disguise myself for the pleasure of delivering those lines. I'm six feet tall, so I could probably pull it off with the right costume to hide my womanly curves. Maybe I should start taking steroids to deepen my voice and get ready for my performance. Why not? All the female roles were played by boys back in Shakespeare's day, so why not turn the tables and let me play Touchstone?

Rosalind gets some pretty good lines too, especially when she's disguised as "Ganymede." Maybe I could go for that role. She gets to say "Tis such fools as you/That makes the world full of ill-favored [that means UGLY] children." HA!
And she tells Phoebe: "Sell when you can; you are not for all markets." OUCH!

Or I could be Jaques (pronounced "Jakes" and/or "Jake-wees"). He's got that great "All the world's a stage" speech, and some good insults, too. "...in his brain/Which is as dry as a remainder biscuit after a voyage."
Hmmm...so many roles, so little time. And, well...so little talent... But I can't let that stop me. I'll let you all know when I'm ready for my stage debut.

[Cindy Rollins · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of my favorites. It is a hymn to marriage with much poetry, song, and general fun.

I also LOVE Kenneth Branagh's film version-one of my favorite adaptations of all time.

Coming on the heels of Much Ado, you can see that Shakespeare is writing in a time of his life when word play, wit and romance figure greatly.

Of course, the next play is Hamlet-not quite so airy.


UPDATE on AUDIO: Don't listen to the audio if you do not know the play. Because of the girl playing boy parts it is hard to follow the plot if you don't know if the girl is, for instance, Rosalind or Ganymede at any moment.

[Lyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

“The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool.”

Another very enjoyable and entertaining play by The Bard.

“All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages.”

Also another very influential work as it is apparent how many romantic comedies over the years have borrowed liberally from this classic tale.

“Do you not know I am a woman? when I think, I must speak.”

Rosalind is also probably the blueprint of countless strong heroines over the years.

“I would rather have a fool to make me merry than experience to make me sad. And to travel for it too!”

[S. ≽^•⩊•^≼ I'm not here yet · Rating 3 out of 5]

I find myself frequently thinking about Daddy-Long-Legs, even though Foul Lady Fortune was the initial reason for reading this; at least had used their names!

[BJ Lillis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Back in high school, I was music director for a summer camp production of As You Like It in a local park. The director—of both play and camp—put us in the 60s, squares versus hippies. I led an onstage rock band through rock’n’roll adaptations of Shakespeare’s songs and 60s hits (Canned Heat’s Goin’ up the Country, Steppenwolf’s Magic Carpet Ride). Obvious as all get out, but also perfect. And our leads were about 16, so. Anyway, it was unbelievable fun, and I will love this play forever and am completely and utterly biased in its favor. But I hadn’t actually read the play since that long ago summer. Well, it’s hot and sticky and July and As You Like It just felt right.

Rosalind more than earns her reputation as one of literature’s all time great cross-dressers, but Celia is obviously the gay one. There is only one read of her abrupt marriage that makes a lick of sense, and it’s that she’s playing Susan to Rosalind’s Emily Dickinson. Not that very much about this play makes sense. I mean, from the wrestling match to the lioness to whatever the hell was going on with Audrey to the false Duke’s abrupt conversion at the end apropos of nothing—sense is simply not what we’ve all come to the Forest of Arden to make.

[Jaclyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

As you like it, I liked you, but not as much as Shakespeare tragedies.

(To be fair, I think a lot of this has to do with the edition of As You Like It I read. While the Folger Library editions are pretty, they have less contextual notes and commentary than the Arden editions, and as a result I felt like I was missing something. I think the Folger Library editions are nice for casual reading, but they don't have the depth I'm looking for in my Shakespeare readings. I think the Arden's are best for study, and the Folger's are great for casual reading.)

I enjoyed this play for it's layered look at gender roles. I loved Rosalind, Celia and Touchstone. I loved Orlando and Shakespeare's commentary on the ridiculousness of writing lovesick sonnets and affixing them to all the trees in a forest.

"The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool." -Touchstone

[Medisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

«تمام دنیا یک صحنه‌ی نمایش است و همه‌ی مردان و زنان بازیگران آنند.»
درسته که بامزه بود و دیالوگ‌های جالبی داشت اما دیگه از این کمدی‌های شبیه هم خسته شدم، خدا کنه زودتر به تراژدی‌ها برسم.

[Barry Pierce · Rating 3 out of 5]

Monsieur Jaques, c’est moi.

[Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

I just saw this play for the first time since college, at the Shakespeare Theater here in DC. I've never really known what to say about it, to be honest. I know all the hype surrounding Rosalind, and I agree with it. It's a really excellent part for any actress, and I love that the play is structured entirely around her. The play even offers the rare pretty great supporting part for a woman in Celia. There's Jacques, the odd and amusing duck who doesn't ever quite fit, and a surprisingly large and non-commentary filled part for the clown. But it's always sat kind of oddly with me. The first act and the second act seem to have very little to do with one another in tone or approach. The characters have the light character development of a comedy (both villains use the Don John classic justification for their behavior: "I don't even know why I hate that guy, but I totally do, so I'm going to continue to be a serious, life-ruining dick to him"), but there's some surprisingly serious and violent moments that don't quite sit with that either. There are great individual comedic/love scenes but they're interspersed with Jacques and the clown and who else knows what- it's got such weird pacing. And it often shows in productions.

The one I saw last night was no exception. The director had his actors play the thing ridiculously straight- no subtext whatsoever. It was the first play I've sat through where I wanted to raise my hand and give line readings because I really felt like they left a lot out there on the stage that they didn't do a thing with. I mean, it's one thing to have a different preferred interpretation than the director, but I don't know that he interpreted it at all, really. All the dialogue seemed intended to be perfectly unambiguous, which is a tragic waste of any Shakespeare production. Not even the characters appear to be thinking through their problems, never mind the audience. The Seven Ages of Man speech was declaimed from on high and in such a silently reverent room that people applauded when it was over (and these are people who know better). The best Shakespeare productions I've seen are the ones where another character's perspective is illuminated through a moment of silence and directed gaze, or another path that could have been taken on the way to the conclusion is denied. For example, I've always liked productions that make the choice that the Prince in Much Ado is in love with Beatrice. It's right there in the dialogue, but only in one crucial moment- the rest is carried on in silence and looks and implications. Likewise the idea that Gertrude lets Ophelia drown because she thinks she'd be better off dead- that's why she has such a full report of what she did and didn't save her. I got nothing here, not even a single solitary hint of unrequited lesbian love, despite some fairly obvious and recurring opportunities for that. If he had only put some interpretation on it and given me a thread to follow and theorize about.

But since he didn't occupy my mind, at least it gave me time to think about a few things in the play that I hadn't seen before:
1) Surveillance: I had not realized before seeing this again how much of this play is people telling stories about something that happened off-stage and reporting it to people onstage. People spend a LOT of time listening to other people talk- even leading players. Moreover, even if there is a live-action scene where something is actually happening right in front of them, there's always a character standing off to the side witnessing it. Even if they don't say a word. There are very rarely any private scenes. Backs up the whole interpretation of this thing as a treatise on gender and relationships as performance, whether a voluntary or involuntary one. I think there was maybe one or two scenes where two characters were genuinely alone- and both of them were in the threatening, dark first act.
2) The Otherworld: One thing the play did that I liked was that it used the scene changes for the appearance of a goddess of marriage who also seemed to double as a forest spirit. Unacknowledged, she guided the characters to their next step. The characters taking off and putting on costumes again was spotlighted center stage (which isn't surprising given the theme, but her help was unexpected). I've seen plays at that theater before and they used the lights that they use to signal the appearance of magic or the otherworld again, which was an interesting choice. I wouldn't have connected faerie with this play before. But of course it makes sense- they're in the forest, people are wandering around trying to find each other or escape each other pretty frequently. Why wouldn't there be a Puck helping to arrange this? And sure- divine intervention seems just as good an excuse as anything else as to how these people are getting away with their gender bending/identity screwing and changing magic.
3) The lonely arms of ruling figures: at least in the comedies. Have we noticed this? The guy who is actually the most powerful in terms of status in the play often ends up standing alone on stage amongst the couples at the end. I mean Theseus is the outlier, but he's a conquerer, right? And Oberon is a game player playing chess, not a lover. Those ladies are both coerced or spoils in some fashion. Not super romantic, however much we're going to gloss over that. Too serious to be involved in such plots? I dunno, I just noticed it. They're just standing awkwardly at the end a lot.
4) Taming of the Shrew v. As You Like It: Lots of commentary about what men and women are and are not and battles of the sexes. Lots of discussion about which gender is better are this or that- two completely different tacks, at least on the surface. Two epilogues given to ladies with surprisingly similar message for all that. What are we thinking was going on here?
5) Also, speaking of the structure, why go out of your way like this to make such a Statement that this is a comedy at the end of the show? The whole first half and setup seemed to state otherwise. That shit was not funny. And now all of a sudden hijinx and four weddings? I know it's a problem play, but still, what's up with that?

Next time I see this, I'll be interested to focus more on the Jacques angle, because there's something going on there I need to figure out. But that's all for this round.

[Nessa ✮ · Rating 3 out of 5]

"All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players."

This play was so wholesome 🤧💝
I absolutely LOVE all the characters. I had a great time reading it.

Now I want a man with the mind of Jacques, heart of Orlando, and humor of Touchstone 💀✨

"The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool."

3.3 ⭐⭐⭐✨

[Theo Logos · Rating 3 out of 5]

All the world’s a stage,
And all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages. At first the infant,
Mewling and puking in the nurse’s arms;
And then the whining school-boy, with his satchel
And shining morning face, creeping like snail
Unwillingly to school. And then the lover,
Sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad
Made to his mistress’ eyebrow. Then a soldier,
Full of strange oaths, and bearded like the pard,
Jealous in honour, sudden and quick in quarrel,
Seeking the bubble reputation
Even in the cannon’s mouth. And then the justice,
In fair round belly with good capon lin’d,
With eyes severe and beard of formal cut,
Full of wise saws and modern instances;
And so he plays his part. The sixth age shifts
Into the lean and slipper’d pantaloon,
With spectacles on nose and pouch on side;
His youthful hose, well sav’d, a world too wide
For his shrunk shank; and his big manly voice,
Turning again toward childish treble, pipes
And whistles in his sound. Last scene of all,
That ends this strange eventful history,
Is second childishness and mere oblivion;
Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.

As You Like It contains this great and moving, melancholy speech, which is worthy of one of Shakespeare’s great tragedies. Instead, it is spent here, in this silly little froth of a convoluted comedy.

I’m coming to realize that I little like Shakespeare’s comedies. His tragedies examine nobility and villainy, ambition, and hubris. They play out on a grand scale with real steaks. Shakespeare’s tragedies are sublime. But, damn it, pretty as they are, his comedies are just silly, frothy little things. I’ve seen Rom-Coms with more heft than As You Like It.

Nothing about this play was convincing for a moment. The evil villains (Oliver de Boys, Duke Frederick) were figures of convenience — their motivation for the extreme antipathy to our heroes isn’t well established, because they are nothing more than plot hooks to move things along. At the end, when both villains repent in the general love-fest and go without transition from devils to angels, it is no more explained. The various romances and the ways they play out are even more frothy and ridiculous — I won’t even go into it.

My only question in rating this play is whether Shakespeare’s oh so pretty language was worth three stars or just two. Even in his silly efforts, the Bard could sure turn a phrase, so, on the strength of that alone I’ll give this nonsense three stars.

[Oguz Akturk · Rating 4 out of 5]

YouTube kanalımda Shakespeare'in hayatı, mutlaka okunması gereken kitapları ve kronolojik okuma sırası hakkında bilgi edinebilirsiniz: https://youtu.be/rGxh2RVjmNU

Nasıl hoşunuza giderse valla ister öyle yazın isterseniz de hiçbir şey yazmayın ama eğer ki koronavirüsten dolayı sokağa çıkma yasağı cuma akşamı açıklandığında bütün ülke Pubg oyunu başlamadanki toplanma alanına dönüyorsa ve Shakespeare de bütün dünyanın bir tiyatro, bizim de oyuncular olduğumuzu düşünüyorsa bence Oğuz Atay'ın Oyunlarla Yaşayanlar kitabında oyunlarla yaşayan insanlar gibi kimimiz tiyatro oyunlarıyla kimimiz bilgisayar oyunlarıyla kimimiz çocuk oyunlarıyla kimimiz Türk halk oyunlarıyla kimimiz bir heykeltraş hocasının öğrencisine oymasını söylediği oyunlarıyla kimimiz sevgili boyunlarıyla kimimiz iktidar koyunlarıyla yaşarken bir Lego oyunu hoşunuza gitmediği sırada artık Limbo ya da Portal 2 oynamanız gerektiğinin farkına varmışsanız ya da bir Tanrı'yla konuşuyorsanız ve günlük hareketlerinizin bol dekorlu bir tiyatro sahnesi içerisinde bulunduğunu düşünüyorsanız bence siz de artık nasıl hoşunuza giderse öyle davranma çağına gelmişsinizdir; yine de her zaman nasıl hoşunuza gitmezse farkındalıkları gerekir ki nasıl hoşunuza giderse bilinç düzeyine erişebilelim ve böylece dünya hayatının eğlence ve oyundan ibaret oluşunu da kişileştirip hoş adlı içimizin yegane jürisine görücü usulüyle götürelim ama yanımıza çikolata değil de belki Shakespeare'in doğayla, büyülü gerçekçilikle ve mistiklikle karışmış pastoral komedyası olan Nasıl Hoşunuza Giderse'yi de alarak.

[Andy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Shakespeare, vorgetragen von Katharina Thalbach,
welch ein Spaß!

[Roy Lotz · Rating 5 out of 5]

As You Like It is unquestionably my favorite of Shakespeare’s comedies. This is mostly due to the love story being, for once, rather enjoyable. In the majority of Shakespeare’s works I find the romantic relationships to be, at best, an easy engine to move the plot along, or a ready vehicle for the poet’s sallies. Seldom do I find myself in sympathy with the lover or the beloved, mostly because Shakespeare’s most lovable or fascinating characters—King Lear, Iago, Hamlet, Falstaff—are usually not of the amorous sort.

But Rosalind is a great exception, for she is both fascinating and lovable. It is very easy for me to sympathize with Orlando’s passion; and though Orlando is no match for Rosalind in wit or wisdom, he is brave, kind, and loyal. As in any Shakespeare play, the lovers expend their great verbal acuity upon one another; though here, for once, the barbs are purely benign, the relationship free of secret malice. For Rosalind and Orlando, raillery becomes a way of showing affection and of keeping attraction alive; and theatricality is not use to deceive or to ensnare, but to enchant.

Shakespeare set his play in the fictitious forest of Arden, thus suggesting a kind of pastoral romance. But the mood of the play is subtly anti-pastoral. Silvius, the poor love-sick shepherd, represents the original pastoral tradition of pinning lovers in an original Eden; thus he speaks exclusively in nauseating verse. Rosalind, by contrast, expresses herself in prose; and her love is never pinning or pathetic, but playful. I would say that ‘play’ characterizes her whole attitude towards life. She does not, like Silvius, fall victim to her emotions; nor does she, like Jacques, cynically deny her feeling. Instead, she indulges in her feelings while staying one step ahead of them, turning every genuine drama into a game. In the process she gives us a model for how to be madly in love without being maddeningly dull.

What else need be said? The plot is absurd and flimsy, of course. Jacques and Touchstone are excellent counterpoises to Rosalind, though neither half so delightful. The music and the natural setting help to make the play itself, like the forest of Arden, a space of escape and delight—a transitional space, where the norms of society are inverted or suspended, and from which we return refreshed and subtly transformed. At the very least, it is impossible for me to watch this play and remain in a sour mood.

[Brian · Rating 5 out of 5]

“He's as good at anything, and yet a fool.”

AS YOU LIKE IT is a Shakespeare play that I did not much care for when I first read it years ago, but I have since become quite fond of. It is one of Shakespeare's mature comedies, written at the height of his prowess around 1599. It also boats the largest female Shakespearean role, Rosalind, and has a supporting cast that is well defined, and compliments the play’s themes quite nicely.

AS YOU LIKE IT contains one of Shakespeare's most famous monologues, the "Seven Ages of Man" speech spoken by the melancholy member of court Jacques. However, it also boasts many other moments of pleasure. The highlight of the play is the third act, which is a delight of imagery and witty dialogues throughout. The play hits its thematic and comedic stride in this act and propels the action to its dizzying assortment of marriages in the conclusion.
This text also boasts more songs than any other Shakespeare play, and like all of Shakespeare's work it has dark undertones to many of its more rustic elements. Both serve to enhance the text and make it a more enjoyable experience.
Shakespeare's knack for accurate human characterization never ceases to amaze me, and this text’s many wonderful characters would make an acting company salivate. I have come back to this wonderful play again and again and will continue to do so.

Quotes:
• “What passion hangs these weights upon my tongue?”
• “Hereafter, in a better world than this, I shall desire more love and knowledge of you.”
• “Sweet are the uses of adversity…”
• “I like this place and willingly could waste my time in it.”
• “Love is merely a madness…”
• “Men have died from time to time, and worms have eaten them, but not for love.”

As for the Pelican Shakespeare series, they are good editions of Shakespeare as the scholarly research is usually top notch and the editions themselves look good as an aesthetic unit. It looks and feels like a play and this compliments the text's contents admirably. The Pelican series was recently reedited and has the latest scholarship on Shakespeare and his time.

[Wanda Pedersen · Rating 5 out of 5]

All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages.

I am always charmed when I go to see a Shakespearean play and hear familiar phrases. As You Like It certainly has its share of those.

A cinema chain near me offers showings of the National Theatre (London) on a regular basis and I went this week for my first experience of this play. As expected, I enjoyed it a great deal. The only issue was a slight falter in reception (and regrettably this was during the famous “All the world’s a stage” scene).

It has all the elements that say “Shakespeare” to me—mistaken identities, disguises & cross-dressing, instantaneous loves, and questions of loyalty.

The stage set for the Arden forest was extremely interesting—the forest itself was created from furniture suspended from the ceiling, which I know sounds weird but somehow it worked well. Watching the transformation of the stage to this arrangement prompted intake of breath among the audience. It was amazing to watch as things gradually swept up into place.

Also fabulous was the music and singing, which really enhanced the experience and which I wouldn’t even have realized I was missing, had I merely read the play at home. Truly, the plays are meant to be experienced, rather than simply read and this one was a great pleasure on so many levels.