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1 - Registered Charity No - 1 - Registered charity no. 212481 © Royal Shakespeare Company ABOUT THIS PACK This pack supports the RSC’s 2019 production of As You Like It, directed by Kimberley Sykes. The activities provided in this pack are specifically designed to support KS3-4 students attending the performance and studying As You Like It in school. Most activities can also be adapted to suit KS5 students or Primary school students who are studying the play. These symbols are used throughout the pack: CONTENTS READ About this Pack Page 2 Notes from the production, background info or Exploring the Story Page 3 extracts Liberation and Freedom Page 6 ACTIVITY A practical or open space Love and Disguise Page 8 activity Comedy and Tragedy Page 9 WRITE A classroom writing or Resources Page 11 discussion activity LINKS Useful web addresses and research tasks ABOUT THE PRODUCTION The 2019 production of As You Like It, directed by Kimberley Sykes, offers a highly contrasting version of the two worlds in the play: the Court and the Forest of Arden. Kimberley and the company wanted to emphasise this difference and have created a version of the court which is highly restrictive and defined. This is set against a vision of the forest which epitomises freedom and liberty. The costumes in these respective worlds reflect this, with formal clothing worn in the court and an eclectic mix of pieces that reflect the individuals’ characters worn in the forest. Kimberley was keen to explore the idea of finding unity through difference, looking at how the people of the court might be taught that they don’t need to be scared of difference or diversity. Take a look at the images below which depict the court and the forest and consider how the design and the costumes have been used to create this contrast. How would you describe the differences here? The company in the 2019 production of As You Like It, directed by Kimberley Sykes. Photos by Topher McGrillis ©RSC - 2 - Registered charity no. 212481 © Royal Shakespeare Company EXPLORING THE STORY SYNOPSIS A full synopsis of the play is available at: https://www.rsc.org.uk/as-you-like-it/the-plot NOTES FROM THE REHEARSAL ROOM During rehearsals Kimberley Sykes was keen that the company worked dynamically and took away all tables and chairs, using music stands to hold the actors’ scripts instead. In doing this she wanted to break down barriers and help the company to interact physically and freely as they explored the absence of rules in the forest of Arden. ACTIVITY 1: THE STORY IN 10 SCENES The following activity will introduce students to the play and ensure that the whole group is familiar with the story. It is also an opportunity to introduce some of the key questions that will be explored in more depth in later activities. Ask students to imagine they are living in a highly restrictive world, where they have to use rigid movements, wear restrictive clothes, move at exactly the same pace as each other and cannot speak to each other unless they follow set rules. o Encourage them to follow two rules that feel appropriate for the group. E.g. you can only speak to someone of your own gender, you can only say two words when you speak to someone etc. Invite students to walk around the room or space as though they have these restrictions on them. How does it affect their pace and movement? How does it affect their interactions? Allow students the opportunity to stop and reflect on how it felt to move and inhabit this world. Together, agree on three words that describe the environment they created together using their movement and interactions. Ask students to stay standing and to imagine themselves completely restricted. As you speak to them, ask them to imagine that all that restriction is completely stripped away and that they become completely liberated. Still standing in one spot, ask them to consider how their posture and expression has changed. Encourage students to then move around the space again, walking and moving at whatever pace they like and with complete freedom and liberation. Remind them that this means they don’t have to follow any rules and can move in whatever way they feel like they want to, talk to whoever they want and in whatever way they want. Reflect with students on how this felt in comparison. Did it feel different? Was it more comfortable or less comfortable? Some students may like the rules and the predictability of the first environment, but invite them to think about how it would feel to live that way and in that setting permanently. Explain to students that the company of As you Like It experimented with this change from a highly restrictive Court world into a completely liberated Forest of Arden, looking at how they could reflect this sudden freedom in clothing and movement. - 3 - Registered charity no. 212481 © Royal Shakespeare Company You can read an interview with Kimberley Sykes on the RSC website where she explains how she researched trees and the forest to help her develop this world of the Forest even further. Divide students into small groups of four or five. Using the ‘Story in 10 Scenes’ resource in this pack, assign each group one or two scenes each, making sure all ten scenes have been distributed. Ask each group to create tableaux or freeze frames for their scenes, thinking about whether their scene is labelled as a ‘Court’ scene or a ‘Forest’ scene. How can they reflect the differences between the world that they have already explored? o Encourage them to narrate their scenes, explaining what happens in each scene before we see it and using the lines they have been given from the play to bring some of the freeze frames to life for 30 seconds. Ask the whole class to form a circle and invite each group into the middle to share their scene or scenes, in the order they happen in the play. Reflect with students on how the characters move from the Court world into the Forest world and how this change of scene affects the story. Could Rosalind and Orlando have behaved the way they do if they had been in the Court? In what ways are the characters liberated by their surroundings? Ask students, based on their knowledge of the play so far, which scenes and moments feel like turning points in the play. Which is the central storyline and why? NOTES FROM THE REHEARSAL ROOM In the production the Forest of Arden acts as a mirror universe, so several of the actors who play characters in the Court world also play characters in the Forest of Arden, acting as their counterparts. Kimberley wanted to do this in order to emphasise how your circumstances and surroundings can change you and the impact your environment can have on how you behave and are willing to behave. ACTIVITY 2: CHARACTERS Provide students with a character slip and ask them to read the information they have been given about their character. Invite students to then take on the persona of that character, including whether they are a character that belongs in the Court or in the Forest. Some characters cross over from one to the other and start in the Court but move to the Forest. These characters have been labelled as Court and Forest. Challenge students to move around the room locating other characters from their setting until they have formed a large Court group and a large Forest group. As part of this challenge, students can only use their line from the play and their name to communicate where they belong and cannot tell others which world they are from. This will focus them on giving clues through movement and prior knowledge of the play. Sandy Grierson as Touchstone in the 2019 production of As You Like It. Allow students to sit down in their large groups, Forest and Court. Ask the Photo by Topher McGrillis ©RSC characters who have both labels to move to the Court to begin with. - 4 - Registered charity no. 212481 © Royal Shakespeare Company Challenge both groups to create a large portrait of the dynamic in their world, involving all of their characters. Remind them that they are each responsible for placing their character in the portrait and showing the audience as much as they can about that character in the portrait. For example, who are they close to? What are they afraid of? How do they feel about being there? How free or restrained are they? What is the hierarchy in that world and how can they show that? Are they all equal or not? Allow them to discuss their decisions and challenge each other as an opportunity to learn more about the characters and their dynamic. Ask the groups to share their portraits, or freeze frames, with the other group. In each group, ask each character to step out of the portrait, one at a time, and reveal who they are and tell the audience a little bit about themselves. Invite the audience to ask questions about their position in the portrait, ensuring each character has at least one question. Ask both audiences a few questions about the characters they have met at the end to ensure they have understood the relationships and connections. LIBERATION AND FREEDOM Talk to students about what complete liberation means to them. What is the opposite of a restrictive world of rules and expectations? What would this look like? NOTES FROM THE REHEARSAL ROOM With the company, Kimberley talked about the idea of ‘deadly’ theatre and ‘rough’ theatre, deciding together on what these two phrases meant.
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