Written by you: As You Like It 2.

Written by: Bernadett-Katalin Szőlősi, Hungarian-English specialization, 2nd year, Partium Christian University

 

On the 18th of May 2025, I had the opportunity to enter Shakespeare’s universe: Conflicts and hostility between family members, love stories, mysterious places, and drama – lots of drama – misunderstanding and battles made up the story of Sunday’s play – and, of course, the two lovers’ fullfillment.

During the more than three-hour play, we could see the consequences of hubris and how someone who bows their head before power is inevitably met. The Shakespearean happy ending was also fulfilled.

 During the performance, we heard the most famous quote from Shakespeare, but presumably not everyone knows which of his plays it is. This quote is:

 „All the world`s a stage,

And all the men and women are merely players;

They have their exits and their entrances,

And one man in his time plays many parts.”

This quote sums up the whole performance, even more so if we take into account the last sentence. The combination of the quote and the conclusion draws attention to the everyday nature of the story, in the sense that love, constant trials, and questions of power and pride are relevant, everyday concerns for people. These themes arise repeatedly in life, but always in the lives of different people. Moreover, the performance highlighted that even in one’s personal life, one must often take on many roles, sometimes completely contradictory ones, just as we see in the case of Rosalind. And when would this be more realistic than today, in our fast-paced world, where in thousands of situations and places we have to perform well?

Indeed, as was said at the end of the performance: „We play as we like it!”