Focus
This performance of William Shakespeare’s “As You Like It” will act as a commentary on the rising statistics of homelessness on the streets of London, and the British government’s antipathy toward their homeless populations. Over the last year, homelessness in the United Kingdom has raised ten percent, and since 2010, the numbers of recorded homeless individuals has more than doubled (Crisis). Although the government and local charities are working toward decreasing these numbers in future years, these numbers are projected to continue increasing until the government offers realistic affordable housing options (Crisis).
Script
In this production, the entire script will be employed as it was originally written. Lines from other Shakespearean plays will not be inserted as the 1740 recovery of the play on Drury Lane precedents (Bevington). Neither will the production be accompanied by imported musical compositions as became typical until the early nineteenth century (Bevington). Instead, this work will highlight the written dialogue and the silence between lines in order to emphasize the relationship between what is said and what is known. In sections of the play that call for singing, the actor will instead perform his lines as a performance art piece to further explore the relationship between spoken and silence.
Character Dynamics
In its early performances, “As You Like It” featured a completely caucasian, all-male cast where boys were casted for the female roles, and men were casted for the male roles (Bevington). This tradition remained precedent until the eighteenth century, when Charles Johnson casted Hannah Pritchard as Rosalind in his adaptation, “Love in a Forest” (Bevington). However, even with the progression regarding gender, castings continued to be primarily white. The character of Rosalind, with a female actor playing her, became traditionally casted to embody Victorian femininity which poses unobtainable classical ideals (Bevington). Not until Gregory Thompson’s 2003 production was a black female actor casted for the role of Rosalind (Bevington). The century leading up to Thompson’s casting set precedent for his decision as other adaptions had begun to make similar progressive castings for several other primary roles, including— in several productions— Orlando (Bevington).
This performance will not reflect the historical preference to cast white-only cast members. Instead, race will not be a consideration other than to suggest the relationships between characters. Such that Duke Senior and Rosalind will be casted to resemble one another in order to reflect their relationship of father and daughter. The same will be done for other familial relationships throughout the character list. Furthermore, the characters, especially female characters, will not be casted to reflect traditional standards of beauty. The only specification that will be considered for castings will be a consideration of the script’s characterization of the roles. Meaning, only lines such as when Rosalind reflects, “I am more than common tall,” will be taken into consideration throughout the casting process (Shakespeare 50).
Setting
Set in modern London, this production will suggest the work’s relevance to the modern audience. This decision is inspired by Clifford William’s 1967 and David Jone’s Royal Shakespeare Company’s 1967-1968 modernized productions which approached timeless themes of gender identity through character relationships (Bevington). This production will instead utilize the modern setting to recognize the theme that the human experience is malleable by addressing the impermanence of the characters’ homes and statuses. This theme will be approached through costuming and staging.
Costuming
The costuming will seek to identify two statuses: those who remain in power and those who are removed from power. Those in power— including Oliver, Charles and Duke Frederick—will be costumed the same throughout the duration of the performance. Like those in power, those removed from power— including Duke Senior, Jacques, Lord Amiens, Silvius and Corin— will also be costumed the same throughout the duration of the performance. Characters who begin in a position of power, but are banished from their power within the play’s plot, will undergo a costume change to reflect their current status throughout the production. They will begin costumed in the fashion of those in power and will change after they are banished into the fashion of those removed from power. This includes Rosalind, Celia, Touchstone, Adam and Orlando.
Characters in power will be distinguished by their modern upperclass costumes. The costumes will be business casual to reflect their position of power. In solid colors, the male characters will be dressed in button-up shirts, with or without ties, slacks, and dress shoes. These articles of clothing will be ironed, and will match one another. Similarly, their female counterparts will wear minimalist dresses with matching simple heels. Moreover, they will have their makeup done and their hair neatly up. These characters will appear clean, and will carry luxury status symbols on their persons, such as watches, bracelets, briefcases, and the like.
In contrast, characters removed from power, will be costumed in ill-fitting street clothes. Both genders will be wear tee-shirts, windbreakers, jeans, and tennis shoes. These articles of clothing will not match, and may be torn or missing from the individual. The characters will wear makeup that mimics dirt with their hair undone and unclean. Accessories will not be worn to suggest their previous status. Only in the final scene, will an exception to this costuming be made for the four women: Rosalind, Celia, Phoebe, and Audrey. At their wedding, they will wear dirt-covered, white dresses which are ill-fit. The women’s excitement will be suggested through the messy efforts to pull their hair back, despite the dirt on their being remaining.
Staging
Although there are two primary settings, a majority of “As You Like It” is set in the Forest of Arden, and as such, staging the forest typically receives the most attention from the creatives. Traditionally, these productions featured elaborate, hyper-realist stagings. For example, Oscar Asch’s early 20th century production imported potted ferns weekly in order to simulate a real, living forest (Bevington). Furthermore, the sets built to appease the two settings are often difficult to move, and are designed to quickly morph between the court and forest settings.
This adaptions seeks to demonstrate through staging the active neglect the government displays toward those they serve. Becoming a visual analogy, the stage will be divided horizontally by a non-evolving set piece into two parts: above and below. These two separate sets will share the mise-en-scene equally, and at all times. The set piece will thus maintain a visual of one group, one place hanging physically over their counterpart.
The top most set will resemble a government department, with hints to suggest the office focuses on housing. The room will be colored with rich paint and accented by elaborate Victorian style furniture to suggest wealth and recognize the traditions of the play. Toward the left mise-en-scene will be a large wooden desk; two chairs around it, one behind it. The front of the desk will be etched with the Royal coat of arms. Other furnishings made of wood will balance the space and satisfy the mise-en-scene’s expensive aesthetic. A British flag will hang in the corner of the office, near the desk. One of the walls will be filled with recognizable photographs of English figureheads. On the adjacent wall will be a realistic painting of a wall-sized window overlooking Parliament. The portrayal of Parliament will be foggy and damp to set the atmosphere before the first line is delivered. A door sits opposite of the desk. Through the door, offstage, is a staircase in and out of the upper set.
In juxtaposition, the lower set will resemble an empty warehouse that serves as an unofficial homeless camp. The set itself will be mostly bare. Dark concrete walls will visually trap the characters within the setting. Wooden support beams throughout the space will represent an abstracted Forest of Arden. The support beams match the finish of the wooden furniture above, establishing a visual relationship between the two sets. Several camping tents in similar colors to the above set will balance the mise-en-scene by relating color theory and scale. The tents will act as the modern equivalent to the cottage with the pasture and the surrounding caves. Colorful garbage and tools scattered along the floor will suggest a sense of permanence in the arrangement.
Key Scenes
The key scenes reflect the the play’s comedic genre, including the fulfillment of the expectation that the plot ends in marriage. Together, these scenes present a unified storyline, and were selected because they could stand alone through their implications of the important details in the surrounding scenes. In other words, these scenes represent a stripped version of the play's plot.
Furthermore, in regards to the vision of the production, these scenes exhibit the theme that the human experience is malleable. Meaning, the selected scenes feature the primary characters’ transitions from their posh courtier lifestyles to simpler ones in the Forest of Arden. Visually, these scenes draw attention to the plot’s downward motion through the split set as the weight of the mise-en-scene begins in the upper set, but shifts downward as characters are banished from court.
This production will highlight the following scenes:
- Act 1, scene 2: The Wrestling Match
- proposes the comedic genre and establishes the storyline: Orlando and Rosalind have fallen in love, have not told the other, but each hopes to marry the other
- offers a goal to both Orlando and Rosalind: marriage
- suggests Celia’s faithfulness to her cousin Rosalind
- reveals the secondary storyline consequent of Duke Senior’s unjustified banishment from power
- introduces Rosalind’s and the court’s connection to Duke Senior
- Act 1, scene 3: Rosalind’s Banishment
- establishes Duke Fredrick as Rosalind's opposing force and the man who banished her father
- shifts the dynamics of Rosalind and Celia’s social status as they leave court
- proves Celia’s loyalty to Rosalind through her willingness to go with her cousin
- explicitly states in what form we will see the two characters for the remainder of the play: Rosalind crossdressed as a poor shepherd, Ganymede, and Celia as his ragged sister, Aliena
- introduces where the banished Duke Senior resides— the Forest of Arden— and explicitly states the two character's decision to look for him, connecting the two settings and characters
- establishes a second goal for Rosalind to find her father
- Act 2, scene 3: Adam Tells Orlando to Flee
- shifts the dynamics of Orlando’s social status as he leaves court
- encompasses the hatred Oliver has toward his brother, Orlando, and therefore builds suspense for the threat of when the two brothers will meet again
- maintains direction toward comedic end, by giving proximity to the Orlando and Rosalind to meet again in the Forest of Arden
- establishes dramatic irony as both Orlando and Rosalind are unaware that the other finds a similar fate forcing them to flee the court
- establishes Oliver as Orlando's opposing force
- Act 3, scene 1: Duke Fredrick Seeks Oliver’s Help
- implies Duke Fredrick’s anger that Celia left with Rosalind
- wrongly places blame on Orlando, thus sharing Oliver’s goal to harm Orlando with Duke Fredrick
- introduces an alliance between the two opposing forces
- further builds tension by sending Oliver into the Forest of Arden with the purpose of harming Orlando
- Act 3, scene 2: Rosalind and Orlando Meet Again
- offers dramatic irony as the audience and Rosalind know her identity, but Orlando does not
- explicitly reveals how both Orlando and Rosalind feels about the other; only Rosalind knows how the other feels, Orlando remains ignorant
- Orlando’s conversation with Rosalind dressed as Ganymede shows their intellectual chemistry, suggesting the match goes beyond infatuation
- Act 4, scene 3: Oliver Finds Orlando and Rosalind Separately in the Forest
- dramatic irony furthers the comedic storyline when a secondary female character announces her love with the cross-dressed Rosalind whom she believes is a male named Ganymede
- tension reaches pinnacle when Oliver meets the girls, exposing his identity while Orlando is absent
- reports the lapse in plot points when Oliver was searching the Forest of Arden for Orlando; revealed through primary perspective of Oliver
- establishes suspense for what has become of Orlando as Oliver’s pervious characterization suggests he should not be trusted, yet Oliver offers proof of his claims that he has changed
- VII. Act 5, scenes 3 and 4: The Wedding Plan
- climax and resolution
- unifies all plotlines
- satisfies the primary characters goals: Orlando and Rosalind get married, as well as she is reconnected with her father
- fulfills comedic expectation with four weddings
- acknowledges the denied storyline following Duke Fredrick, revealing he has since decided to become a religious recluse
- satisfies the rightful power structure in the secondary storyline: Duke Senior’s status is restored and all those banished are permitted to return to the court
Creative Directions
All characters will remain within the mise-en-scene at all times. A spotlight will draw attention to those speaking within the scene, but the entire mise-en-scene will remain lit throughout the duration of the performance. Those in the backgrounded scenes will continue to move throughout their set, rather than standing idle. This decision seeks to visualize the unavoidable relationship between the two groups despite their lack of interaction.
Furthermore, as several characters— including Orlando and Rosalind— begin the play in the court setting, but are later banished to the Forest of Arden, these characters will physically move from the upper set to the lower set. At the close of the scene in which the character is banished, (s)he will leave through the door in the upper set. In the following scene that the banished character has lines, (s)he will later reenter the mise-en-scene in the lower set. They will return in their changed costume reflecting their new position of power. This decision will draw attention to the weight these banishments have to not only the plot, but the societal structure.
To maintain the fidelity of the original script, modern modifications will be made to accommodate the change in the play’s setting. For example, in Act 3, scene 2, Orlando’s love notes will be spray painted onto the support beams of the lower set in the contemporary icon of initials inside a heart. This will allow for the love letters to be written into the setting as the script suggests, but will maintain the production’s modernity. Similarly, suspense for what has become of Orlando will be maintained in Act 4, scene 3 by showing the two brothers interact in the background before Oliver talks to Rosalind. In their interaction, no actor will interact with them dressed as a lion. Instead, the two brothers will ambiguously interact away from the action, until eventually, Orlando lays nearly lifeless on the stage. Between the last two scenes, the characters remaining in the upper set will silently exit the mis-en-scene in order to suggest Duke Fredrick relinquishing his power, and those in the forest’s ignorance of this event. This will present a court that is prepared to receive the returning Duke Senior and suggests that the story continues after the play’s epilogue.
Works Cited
Bevington, David. “As You Like It: Performance History.” Internet Shakespeare Editions, June
Shakespeare, William. As You Like It. Spark Notes, 2004.
“Types of Homelessness.” Crisis, Crisis Organization, Nov. 2017,
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