As You Like It....

“As You Like It” is a simple tale in which we discover Duke Senior has been banished from court by his usurping brother Frederick and can be found living in harmony and happiness in the Forest of Arden with his faithful entourage.His daughter Rosalind remains at court as friend and companion to her cousin Celia, daughter of the dastardly Frederick.

When a stranger arrives in court to wrestle a far stronger man Rosalind falls head over heels in love…what she doesn’t know initially is that the stranger is no other than the son of Sir Rowland de Boys, Orlando. The late Sir Rowland was firm friends with Rosalind’s banished father…Fredrick is beside himself with the young girl and sets her outside the court, even when her dear friend, and his daughter Celia vows to go with her rather than see her cast out alone.

The girls are scared at the thought of entering the forest to find Duke Senior but know it is their only hope, so determine that their best chance is to dress as country folk, Celia as a girl called Aliena, and Rosalind as her brother Ganymede.So there you have the basic comic twist: a beautiful, strong-minded, charming, sought after, and oh-so-eligible young lady, dressed up as a country boy! Now admittedly this is not a premise that would necessarily have us rolling in the aisles in the modern theatre but Shakespeare’s adoption of the trendy “pastoral tales” genre of the day does provide some genuine comedy.

It is also worth a nod to Shakespeare that it wasn’t often his contemporaries chose to place a head-strong intelligent WOMAN as the central character in a play (even if it was probably a boy actor who had to take the part).You can imagine that the young Orlando soon finds himself in the forest too, and will all but bump into “Ganymede” and quickly confess his love-sick musings are for the beautiful Rosalind he met at court…


Well...Howda like it!!!!!!!!!!!!!
[:)]

Till next time...,

Chinnu.