As You Like It

As You Like It by William Shakespeare
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Such a delight. Not fully sold on James Shapiro’s theory that Orlando sees through Rosalind’s disguise before the final scene. His simpleness doesn’t detract from his merits, and he learns to be witty enough. There’s a lot of emphasis at the beginning on the interaction between nature and fortune (as we might put it: nature and nurture) which maps broadly over the timeless virtues of the country vs the workaday tribulations of the court. Agnes Latham’s introduction makes a good case for Arden being as magical a location as the fairy-infested forest in Midsummer Night’s Dream, with a god of marriage at its heart to bless the weddings at the end. The forest is the true touchstone of the play, testing and mending all who venture in it.

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