Gallery: As You Like It

As You Like It is one of Shakespeare's most produced plays: from the Royal Shakespeare Company and regional theatres, to community and colleges and high school productions. It's been set in every conceivable period and place, and given many different interpretations.

There have been several post-Elizabethan all-male productions--there was one in London in the late 60s (Anthony Hopkins and Derek Jacobi were in the cast.) And Rosalind is a favorite feminist hero, as in this Playhouse on the Square production in Memphis. Director Kathleen Powers saw it as Rosalind's journey of self-discovery.

Many productions favor its festival qualities and emphasize the comedy and romance. That's probably why it's a favorite for school and summer Shakespeare in the Park productions. In fact, it's been done so much in that spirit that the more powerful and more subtle qualities of it in form and content have been in danger of being overlooked or forgotten.

It seems to me to be in fact a play that's difficult to do well. A charismatic Rosalind can do a lot to carry this play, but there is so much else going on that this is seldom enough. That's one of the wonderful things about Shakespeare's plays. There is always something more to explore and to achieve. There's always a challenge. It can always be done better.