William Shakespeare

As You Like It

comedy

Translated by::

Rosalind’s father has been stripped of his dukedom and banished from court. Orlando, for years, has been cheated and humiliated by his brother, who fears that everyone loves the younger man more. On the day of the great wrestling match, Rosalind and Orlando fall in love. But the new, envious duke drives away everything beautiful from his court — for beauty threatens his power.
Thus, love, wit, and laughter themselves are sent into exile.

The outcasts find a new home in the forest, where the trees are heavy with the sighs of lovers. All long for marriage, for they are worn out with desire.

“Love is merely a madness; and, I tell you, deserves as well a dark house and a whip as madmen do. But as the lunacy is so ordinary, the whippers are in love too.”

Rosalind and Orlando flee to this forest as well — though neither knows that the other is there. In the woods, the rules of the outside world no longer apply: time stands still, and no one is quite who they were in the city, for here, above all else, reigns the spirit of play.

Cast of characters:

Premier: 2025.05.09