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As You Like It Study Guide 2017/18 SEASON AS YOU LIKE IT STUDY GUIDE STUDIO 58 AT LANGARA COLLEGE Contents Studio 58 2 Who we are Theatre Etiquette The Play 3 About the Play Themes and Motifs Characters by Relationship Plot Synopsis Exploring Shakespeare Online Our Production 7 Director’s Notes Creative Team Setting Refugee Experience 13 Definitions and Statistics Activities For The Classroom Shakespeare and the Refugee Experience Critical Response 17 Sources As You Like It is a refugee story, a tale of people fleeing tyranny for the uncertain sanctuary of the unpopulated natural world. It is also a love story in which Rosalind falls in love with Orlando at a wrestling match. As the daughter of a banished duke, she must escape or be executed. Joined by her cousin Celia and the jester Touchstone, she disguises herself and they escape to the forest of Arden. In exile, Shakespeare’s characters redefine themselves and make a new life. One of Shakespeare’s great comedies with some of his most loved characters, As You Like It flips the traditional rules of romance. Gender roles, nature and politics run amok in a play that reflects on how confounding yet undeniably pleasurable life can be. Photo credit: David Cooper STUDIO 58 1 Studio 58 Who we are Studio 58 began as a small Theatre Arts course in 1965 and classes were first held on the King Edward Campus of Vancouver Community College. The department moved to new facilities on the Langara Campus in 1970 and began to be known as Studio 58 (referring to the room number of the theatre space). Kathryn Shaw is the current Artistic Director of Studio 58. She was preceded by Antony Holland who was Artistic Director from 1965 to 1985. Jane Heyman from 1985-2005 was the Associate Director, a position now held by David Hudgins. The school operates its own theatre and presents 4 full-length and 2 indie-style productions annually. Professional directors and designers are hired to work on each production. Studio 58 productions are open to the public and reviewed by the Vancouver media. 2017/18 marks the 52nd season for Studio 58. Theatre Etiquette Live theatre is not the same as going to the movies - the audience watching a play, ballet, or opera, is an equal participant in the experience. Audience members have the power to enhance or distract from the stage. Here are a few simple rules of etiquette that will allow for enjoyment of the performance by all: Live response is good! The actors can tell when you are responding to the story they are trying to tell. Just like how you want to tell your friends more stories when they are actively listening, actors want to tell their story even more when you listen, laugh, cry, and respond. The actors can hear you talking! They want to hear you respond to the story that they are telling, but they don’t want to hear the conversation you might be having with your friend sitting in the next seat. Please remember that you are here to watch the show, and the actors want to perform for you. If an audience member is not paying attention, the actor can feel it. The actors can see you! The house lights may be dim, but the actors on stage can still tell if you are watching the show. Imagine you were trying to tell a story, and the people you were talking to all looked at the floor, closed their eyes, or turned to their friends. The nature of live performance is that no play is ever the same twice, and the actors only have one chance to communicate with you. Be attentive and open to the surprises of live theatre. Cell phones and gum wrappers can be an equal nuisance! Please make sure that cell phones are turned off, noisy snacks are left outside, and other possible distractions are put away for the duration of the show. Cell phones and other devices are bothersome to the actors and the other audience members. That amazing thing you just saw happen on stage? You can tweet about it later! Adapted from the Portland Center Stage and The Morris Performing Arts Center. STUDIO 58 2 The Play Some Interesting Tidbits... The actors in the original production of As You Like It did not want the play to be published, because once a play was printed they lost their monopoly over the text and therefore their profits. As a result, the play was not published in Shakespeare's lifetime. As You Like It is one of several Shakespearean comedies (also including The Taming of the Shrew, A Midsummer Night's Dream and Much Ado About Nothing) that feature weddings as part of their plots. As You Like It contains more songs than any other play by Shakespeare. The song "It was a lover and his lass" was published (with musical setting) in Thomas Morley's First Book of Airs in 1600. Shakespeare is known to have played the role of Orlando's aged servant Adam. (Stratford Festival) Image of Shakespeare’s First Folio; Schoenberg Center for Electronic Text & Image About the Play Date Written: 1599 or earlier. First Printing: 1623 as part of the First Folio, the first authorized collection of Shakespeare's plays. First Mention: in the Stationers’ Register, 1600. Source: Shakespeare based As You Like It on Rosalynde: Euphues Golden Legacie (1590), a prose romance by Thomas Lodge (1557-1625). Lodge based his romance, in turn, on The Tale of Gamelyn, an anonymous poem of 900 lines written in the middle of the 14th Century. This poem tells the story of Gamelyn de Boundys, a young man whose brother confiscates his inheritance. Gamelyn is forced to live as a forest outlaw but eventually recovers what is rightfully his. Historical Context: As You Like It was written near the end of Queen Elizabeth’s reign over England. Elizabethan England was a highly patriarchal society in which women had very few rights and marriages were arranged. To marry someone out of love was considered foolish and the court in general dictated STUDIO 58 3 strict rules for the conduct of English royalty and citizens. In this light, As You Like It may be thought of as a wishful exploration of another, freer world, in which people coexist with nature, fall in love, and marry each other of their own volition. Title Meaning: In explaining the title of the play, Shakespeare scholar G.B. Harrison wrote, "[As You Like It] is a lighthearted comedy which appeals to readers at all stages and in all lighter moods. It pleases some by its idyllic romance, others by its optimistic philosophy of simple goodness, and yet others by its cynical irony. Indeed, you can take this play just as you like it."—G.B. Harrison, ed. Shakespeare: The Complete Works. New York: Harcourt, 1952 (Page 776). Settings: The action takes place in a palace in a fictitious France and in the Arden Forest. There is an Arden Forest in Warwickshire, England, and an Ardennes Forest in continental Europe. The latter forest encompasses parts of Belgium, Luxembourg, and France. Thomas Lodge, who wrote a play that Shakespeare used as the source for As You Like It, earned a medical degree in France and practiced medicine in Belgium, not far from the Ardennes forest. (Batkin) Podcast Click to Listen Marguerite Hanna as Ganymede and William Edward as Orlando. 80: As You Like It… Plot and Sources Photo credit: David Cooper Bill Walthall; July 13, 2014 Themes and Motifs Themes Definition of THEME Love Flexibility of human experience 1 a: a subject or topic of discourse or of artistic representation * guilt and punishment is the theme of the Urban vs. rural / court vs. country story * Foolishness and folly b: a specific and distinctive quality, characteristic, or Family concern * the campaign has lacked a theme * Nature vs. Fortune 2 : a melodic subject of a musical composition or movement Art and culture 3 : a written exercise : composition : a research theme Transformation 4 : stem Philosophical viewpoints (Merriam-Webster) Deception, disguise, gender Tolerance and goodwill Motifs Definition of MOTIF Artifice 1 :a usually recurring salient thematic element (as in the arts); especially :a dominant idea or Exile central theme Time 2 :a single or repeated design or color (Merriam-Webster) STUDIO 58 4 Characters by Relationship THE COURT Duke Frederick Usurped the throne from Duke Senior Celia Daughter of Duke Frederick Rosalind Cousin to Celia, niece to Duke Frederick, daughter to Duke Senior Le Beau Courtier in the Court of Duke Frederick Touchstone Clown of the court What Shakespeare Plays Originally Sounded Like SONS OF SIR ROWLAND DE BOYS Oliver Elder son Orlando Younger son who loves Rosalind Adam Old servant to Oliver FOREST OF ARDEN Duke Senior Elder brother of Duke Frederick Jaques Melancholic wanderer in the entourage of Duke Senior Amiens/Forrest Lord Lords attending Duke Senior Corin Old Shepherd Silvius Young Shepherd in love with Phoebe Phoebe Learned Shepherdess Audrey Country girl in love with Touchstone (McGlinn) Shakespeare Uncovered PBS: Anatomy of a Scene STUDIO 58 5 Plot Synopsis Orlando, youngest son of Sir Rowland de Boys, is at odds with his brother, Oliver, who is withholding the inheritance left him in their father's will. Oliver plans to have Orlando maimed or even killed in a wrestling match held before Duke Frederick (who has recently usurped the realm from his brother, Duke Senior), but Orlando wins the bout - and with it the heart of Rosalind, daughter of the banished Duke. When Rosalind too is banished, she decides to join her father, who is holding court with a group of other exiled nobles, including the melancholy philosopher Jaques, in the nearby Forest of Arden.
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