THE PLAY “AS YOU LIKE IT” THE WOMAN ROSALIND THE FACTS WRITTEN: The year of 1599 was an especially busy year for Williams Shakespeare who wrote four plays for the Globe stage – “Much Ado About Nothing”, “Henry V”, “Julius Caesar” and “As You Like It”. PUBLISHED: The play was first published in the famous First Folio of 1923 AGE: The Bard was 35 years old when he wrote the play. (Born 1564-Died 1616) CHRONO: “As You Like It” holds the 21st position in the canon of 39 plays immediately after “Julius Caesar” and before “Hamlet” in 1601 GENRE: The play is most often joined with “The Two Gentlemen of Verona” and “The Comedy of Errors” to comprise the trio of “Early Comedies”. SOURCE: Shakespeare’s principal source was a prose pastoral romance, “Rosalynd”, published in 1590 by the English poet Thomas Lodge and “improved upon beyond measure” (Bloom); the two key characters of Touchstone and Jaques were Shakespeare’s memorable creations. TIMELINE: The action of the play covers a brief number of weeks allowing for the “to-ing & fro-ing” of getting from the Palace to the Forest. FIRST PERFORMANCE: The play’s first performance is uncertain although a performance at Wilton House – an English country house outside of London and the seat of the Earl of Pembroke – has been suggested as a possibility. The play’s popularity must surely have found its place in frequent Globe seasons but no records seem to attest to that fact. Page 2 “PASTORALS”: “There is a unique bucolic bliss that is conventional in pastorals, for it is common for people trapped in the hurly-burly of the crowded haunts of men to imagine wrongly that there is some delight in a simple life that existed in the ‘good old days’. This vain imagining even made its way into many mythologies. The early Greek poet Hesiod pictured the human race as having degenerated through successive ages, each worse than the one before. The first period was the ‘golden age’ in which men lived without care, eating acorns, honey and milk, free of hunger and pain; to these men death was only a ‘falling asleep’. It is to this that the Duke’s wrestler Charles refers as ‘the golden world’ .” (Act I, Sc 1, 115) (Asimov) PLAY TEXT: Despite its supposed popularity in the 17th Century, an odd adaption of Shakespeare’s text at London’s famed Drury Lane Theater existed for seventeen years beginning in 1723 which left out several characters – including Touchstone – and added the melancholy Jaques together in love with Celia, the Duke’s daughter and Rosalind’s “sister”. The original text was returned to performances in 1740. CRITICISM: Critics have long disputed the merits of the play. George Bernard Shaw complained that the play “is lacking in the high artistry of which Shakespeare was capable…..written a mere crowd-pleaser”. On the other hand, he praised the role of Rosalind: “she makes love to the man instead of waiting for the man to make love to her.” Tolstoy objected to the “immorality of the characters and Touchstone’s constant clowning.” In 1932 G.K. Chesterton – English writer, philosopher, lay theologian and literary/art critic – wrote this amusing but oddly-caustic paragraph: “About three hundred years ago William Shakespeare, not knowing what to do with his characters, turned them out to play in the woods, let a girl masquerade as a boy and amused himself with speculating on the effect of feminine curiosity freed for an hour from feminine dignity.” Contemporary scholar Harold Bloom has written that Rosalind is “among Shakespeare’s greatest and most fully realized female characters.” ACTORS: Shakespeare was at a colorful peak of creativity when he filled the play with unforgettable characters including the role of Old Adam devoted to Orlando, a role claimed to played by Shakespeare himself. A long list of talented actors have vied and won the glory of playing the roles of Rosalind, Orlando, Jaques and Touchstone in particular over the years. Famous 20th century actresses as Rosalind have included Dame Edith Evans, Margaret Leighton & Peggy Ashcroft, Page 3 followed in more recent years by Vanessa Redgrave, Katherine Hepburn, Irene Worth, Maggie Smith and Helen Mirren. FAMOUS LINES: “And this our life, exempt from public haunt, finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, sermons in stones, and good in everything. I would not change it.” “The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool.” “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………” “Do you not know I am a woman? when I think, I must speak.” “Love is merely a madness; and, I tell you, deserves as well a dark house and a whip as madmen do; and the reason why they are not so punish'd and cured is that the lunacy is so ordinary that the whippers are in love too.” “Men have died from time to time, and worms have eaten them, but not for love.” THEMES: ”As You Like It” basks in the many themes of love, gender, usurpation, injustice, forgiveness, court life vs country life and music & song including lasting musical highlights as “Under the Greenwood tree”, “Blow, blow, thou winter wind” and “It was a lover and his lass” as a prelude to the wedding ceremony. FILM: The first British film of the play (1936) starred Sir Laurence Olivier as Orlando and Elisabeth Bergner as a “coy” Rosalind. Although many film treatments of the play have premiered over the years, the 1978 film produced by the BBC starring a young Helen Mirren and Brian Stirner has often been touted as one of the finest. Kenneth Branagh directed a film version in 2006 set in 19th century Japan starring Bryce Dallas Howard, David Oyelowo, Romola Garai, Alfred Molina, Kevin Kline and Brian Blessed. RADIO: On 1 March 2015, BBC Radio 3 broadcast a new production directed by Sally Avens with music composed by actor and singer Johnny Flynn of the folk rock band Johnny Flynn and The Sussex Wit. The production included Pippa Nixon as Page 4 Rosalind, Luke Norris as Orlando, Adrian Scarborough as Touchstone, William Houston as Jaques, Ellie Kendrick as Celia and Jude Akuwudike as Corin. MUSIC: “The Seven Doors of Danny” by Ricky Horscraft and John McCullough is based on the "Seven Ages of Man" element of the “All the world’s a stage” speech and was premiered in April 2016. THE PLAY SETTING: A bit of a conundrum with subject of setting. “We do not even know precisely where we are geographically in this comedy.” (Bloom) Indeed, there IS a Forest of Arden in Warwickshire, England close to Shakespeare’s home in Stratford-upon-Avon. However, the reference made by Charles the wrestler to “old Robin Hood of England” (I, 1, 113) implies that we are outside of England. Furthermore, according to the source upon which Shakespeare wrote the play – Thomas Lodge’s novel, “Rosalynde” (1590) – the usurped duchy is in France and Arden is the Ardennes crossing the borders of France into Belgium. Luxemburg and Germany. Several scholars hold that “Shakespeare probably had in mind the French Arden Wood, featured in Orlando Innamorato, especially since the two Orlando epics, Orlando Innamorato and Orlando Furioso, have other connections with the play. In the Orlando mythos, Arden Wood is the location of Merlin's Fountain, a magic fountain causing anyone who drinks from it to fall out of love”. Finally, the respected institution of the British Council notes in its publications that “The Merry Wives of Windsor” is the “only Shakespearean comedy to be set in the United Kingdom.” Take your pick: Warwickshire Arden or French Ardennes YEAR: 1599 - Except for a vague historical reference connecting “Sir Rowland de Boys” to the Frankish warrior “Roland” who died in battle in 778 there are no historical facts that encourage us to believe that the play unfolds in any other time than contemporary 1599. PLOT: Act I Orlando, the youngest son of the recently-deceased Sir Roland de Boys, is treated harshly by his eldest brother, Oliver. Bitter and angry, Orlando challenges Page 5 the court wrestler, Charles, to a fight. When Oliver learns of the fight, Oliver tells Charles to injure Orlando if possible. Duke Frederick has recently deposed his brother, Duke Senior, as head of the court. But he allowed Senior's daughter, Rosalind, to remain, and she and Celia, the new Duke's daughter, watch the wrestling competition. During the match, Rosalind falls in love with Orlando, who beats Charles. Rosalind gives Orlando a chain to wear; in turn, he is overcome with love. Act II Shortly after, Orlando is warned of his brother's plot against him and seeks refuge in the Forest of Arden. At the same time, and seemingly without cause, Duke Frederick banishes Rosalind. She decides to seek shelter in the Forest of Arden with Celia. They both disguise themselves: Rosalind as the young man Ganymede and Celia as his shepherdess sister Aliena. Touchstone, the court fool, also goes with them. Act III In the Forest of Arden, the weary cousins happen upon Silvius, a lovesick shepherd. Silvius was in the act of declaring his feelings for Phoebe, a scornful shepherdess. Ganymede buys the lease to the property of an old shepherd who needs someone to manage his estate. Ganymede and Aliena set up home in the forest. Not far away, and unaware of the newcomers, Duke Senior is living a simple outdoor life with his fellow exiled courtiers and huntsmen.