“As You Like It” and Finding “much virtue in ‘if’”

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By Jennifer Birkett

In the late 1590s, William Shakespeare wrote a theatrical comedy based on the then popular romance titled Rosalynde by Thomas Lodge. As in Lodge’s romance, Shakespeare’s As You Like It centers on Rosalind, a vibrant female heroine, who dons a male disguise to flee the unwelcoming court of her uncle, Duke Frederick, and escape into the forest to find her banished father, Duke Senior (Frederick’s older brother and rightful Duke). While in disguise, she comes upon Orlando, the youngest brother of Oliver de Boys, who has fled into the forest seeking safety from his violent brother. Although the two have met before, Orlando does not recognize Rosalind in her male clothes. She takes the opportunity to use her disguise to befriend Orlando and sort out if his supposed “love” for her is sincere or not. Of course, it would not be a Shakespeare play if there were no other plot lines to entertain the audience and further complicate Rosalind’s journey.

There are multiple legends tied to As You Like It. One being that Shakespeare, himself, played Adam, the old servant of the de Boys household, in the original production. Another being that the title refers to Shakespeare’s frustration at meeting a growing audience’s demands: “Fine, have it as you like it!” However, as Sara Holdren, the director of this summer’s NDSF production, notes, the title also hints at the play’s deep longing. Woven beneath the lighthearted comedy is a desire for a world as one likes it, where one can love freely, be seen genuinely, and escape artificiality.

As a pastoral comedy, As You Like It juxtaposes a court corrupted by the hatred of brothers with the simple communal existence in the forest of Arden. When Orlando arrives in Arden, he observes that “there is no clock in the forest.” This play, and this NDSF 2024 production, invites both its characters and audience to set aside the stifling demands of everyday life and embrace alternate realities. What might the world look like if, for example, women had the same courtesies as men? What if class did not matter? Or if there were no greed for power? Or if we treated the earth with more care? As Touchstone, the play’s clown puts it, there’s “much virtue in ‘if.’”

As You Like It is an experimentation in “if.” From its abundance of song to its philosophical musings on performativity and its all-too-convenient conclusion, the play exposes Shakespeare’s writerly process, putting more stock in asking questions than answering them. It invites an openness to revise, to think again, and to imagine otherwise. Similarly, this summer’s production invites us to reimagine our traditional notions of gender, community, politics, and even Shakespeare to inquire after a world “as we like it.” We hope you’ll set aside your clock to join us in the Forest of Arden this Aug 20-September 1st! As an audience member, you can expect to be enchanted by the festival’s first-ever incorporation of puppets, the bold transition from a tight-laced court setting to a artistic Arden, and original songs performed live on stage by our actors.

“A Midsummer Night’s Dream” Spring 2024 Tour: Entry #9

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By Sam Hill

For the Lord heareth the poor, and despiseth not his prisoners.
Psalm 69:33

And so just like that, we entered our final week of the tour. Looking back it felt like it had been a long tour, but also a short tour. When I think back to all the places we have been: Indiana, New York State, Vermont, Texas, California and Alabama, it feels like we have been away for a long time. But then again, it some ways it feels like yesterday that we were doing our read-through in Covent Garden, London.

Florence is a pretty, affluent town in northern Alabama. Its high street leads up to the university which is a short walk from our hotel. If you turn out of our hotel and walk down the hill, you find yourself at the Tennessee River. It’s big and beautiful, people fish on the river bank and you feel like Huckleberry Finn might pass by on a raft at any given moment.

We had three shows to do here, one at the university, one for high schoolers and one at Limestone Correctional Facility: a prison about an hour and half outside of Florence. Most of us had never performed in a prison before, including me. Going into the building is an austere experience, but once you are inside (literally and figuratively) you sort of forget you are in a prison. We were shown into a room, where we would perform, which was reminiscent of a church hall. The floor had been mopped and cleaned so well we could have had our lunch on it. We set up and the audience entered.

What struck us most was the focus this audience had on the play. Every single man was paying a deep attention to the play. They had been studying A Midsummer Night’s Dream through a program run by the University of North Alabama. They were well equipped with a ‘No Fear Shakespeare’ script in hand (this edition offers a modern English version of the story alongside the original), pencils and a list of characters in the play. They were to listen, to learn and to get out of prison life for a couple of hours.

After the show we ran a Q and A, spoke to the prisoners, and signed their copies of the play, which were kept carefully and in pristine condition. We were thanked a lot and were reminded how important it was to them that we had come. It was a profound experience. I have thought about it a lot since. And will think about it a lot, probably throughout my life. Of course, I’m sure some men in that prison have done very bad things and some might even show little to no remorse; but the people we met seemed so normal. Perhaps, a fit of anger, a tragedy, a tough, tough life, forces someone to do something rash, they get caught and that’s it: prison. And then once you’ve been to prison, done your time and get released, is it easy to establish a normal life? I don’t know, but the experience made me think. The walls we put up are built on sand.

“A Midsummer Night’s Dream” Spring 2024 Tour: Entry #8

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By Sam Hill

As we flew into California, the plane did that scary tipping motion as it turned to have a straight path to the runway. Whilst, as a nervous flyer, I find this frankly terrifying, it did offer an excellent view of L.A. The view was rows and rows of palm trees and pools. In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many palm trees and pools in my life.

The following day I was lucky as I had a 6pm class allowing me most of the day to explore L.A. I opted for a trip to the Getty Museum. The Getty is perched on a hill overlooking L.A. You can get a small tram or walk up from the car park to the museum itself. I opted for the tram. It’s more scenic and I was put off by disconcerting signs on the walking route warning of cayotes, mountain lions and rattle snakes. Yeah, the tram is good for me.

The Getty has a reasonable collection of art, but maybe not as impressive compared to the Art Institute in Chicago or the Met. But in terms of the building and setting, the Getty is a work of art in and of itself. The modern building blends the natural and the man-made with a seamless ease. A man-made waterfall cuts through the rock and into a basin at the head of the garden. Flowers are arranged into intricate arcs and circles. Cacti are nestled together looking out onto L.A in the prickly warmth.

Citrus College, where we were working, is a community college. This means that many of the students are receiving a free (or practically free) higher education. The students are bright, grounded, intelligent. They have an excellent performing arts program and we engaged with many talented and promising young actors. When we performed for them, in the round, we found a new energy to the show. Something in having to slightly adapt the blocking for the theatre and the kind energy brought by the audience made for one of our favorite shows we’ve done here.

This week was unusual as we had a full week end off. A full week end off in L.A! Saturday I took the tram into Little Tokyo to treat myself to lunch. I then pottered to a local brewery to sample some of their produce, before meeting Lucy and her boyfriend George (aka G-force) to stroll along Venice beach.

As I have found with much of America, L.A is a city of extremes. On the one hand you have Beverly Hills, the Hollywood sign, Venice Beech, Malibu: the list goes on. But on the other, you see tents set up on the side of roads where people shelter, a woman passed out on the street, the homeless riding on trams for stop after stop after stop just to have somewhere to sit and then a man inhaling a misty vapor from a pipe to get away from it all. I left questioning the city and questioning myself.

“A Midsummer Night’s Dream” Spring 2024 Tour: Entry #7

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By Sam Hill

Austin is the city we are all the most excited about and it did not disappoint. It is the capital city of Texas and home to the largest capitol building in the U.S. Yes, it is even bigger than the U.S Capitol in Washington, D.C; the Texans made sure of that. I was told that there are two queues to get in to the Texas Capitol: one if you want to bring your gun in and one if you don’t. But when I went, I’m not sure I saw any evidence of this, so it could be apocryphal. The Capitol building itself is very interesting. Portraits of former Governors, such as George Bush, deck the walls and the chamber has huge paintings of Alamo and San Jacinto (two key battles in Texas’ war with Mexico) hanging at the back.

Austin certainly has a huge amount to offer, but perhaps the main reason we are all excited is that three of our partners are coming to join us. Touring is a wonderful way to live, but if there is a downside it’s missing the people back home. It was an utter joy to be joined by Juliette, Sarah and George for the week. We all got on rather well. In fact, so well that we finished our trip with a drunken game of darts, which I lost… the least said about that the better.

Austin is famous for two things: food and music. My first food stop was to, not one, but two, taco places. The first was a Tex-Mex joint and the second a humble food truck. The humble food truck won hands down. We also went to Micklethwait’s BBQ. The most famous BBQ joint in Austin is Franklin’s but people get in line at 7:00 am to queue for a late lunch. We felt we simply did not have the time to commit to a five hour wait, even though part of me wanted to. It must be good, right? To queue more than 5 hours for? But then again, surely anything would taste good after queuing for 5 hours? You must be starving. Micklethwait’s had no queue and we sat outside in the marvelous Texan sun devouring brisket, sausage, slaw and ribs, absolute heaven.

A real highlight of the week was going to C-Boy’s bar to hear some live music. Austin refers to itself as the live music capital of the world. I expect Nashville would have something to say about that but, hey what do I know.

C-Boy’s is essentially exactly what you imagine a dive bar in Texas to look like. It is small, dark, a neon sign hangs outside and you open what looks like a barn door to get inside. They serve beer and whisky and there is a small stage at the back where the acts play. We saw a funk band to begin with, which we all enjoyed and then a band called Pelvis Wrestley. Firstly, what a name, and secondly, they were superb! It’s hard to pin their music to a particular genre but I would hazard a guess at Country/Alternative/ Punk. They had some absolute bangers and I would highly recommend.

Of all the weeks we’ve had, this week went by the fastest. If we weren’t teaching or doing a show, we were out and about exploring everything that Austin has to offer. It was a truly fantastic week and one I will remember for the rest of my life. I was almost sad to leave, but can anyone be sad when their next stop is California? And not just anywhere in California: LA. Yes, that’s right, we’re off to Hollywood.

“A Midsummer Night’s Dream” Spring 2024 Tour: Entry #6

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By Sam Hill

Vermont was stunning. As we drove up the hill to the campus, we saw the mountains rising up in front of us. The air was clear and fresh. The ground on arrival was covered in snow, but this melted as it became unseasonably warm later in the week. It used to be so cold in winter that Lake Champlain would freeze over in its entirety, but now the water stays liquid. The effects of global warming are startling. This has been a theme in every place we have been.

We were met at the airport by Lisa and Andrew. They work here in the English department and were our liaison at U.V.M. They were both extraordinarily kind and welcoming. Lisa made us dinner on our first night which was sublime. She cooked a delicious salmon with curried cauliflower and greens. Not only was Lisa an excellent cook, but it was the first home cooked meal we had had in more than a month. I have had lots of good food here in the U.S but I have to say Lisa’s dinner was my favourite.

The following night we were taken to, not one, but two breweries. Vermont has a thriving and entrepreneurial craft beer scene. In fact, the global craft beer movement really started there and you can tell. In Burlington, you don’t have to walk far to end up in a brewery. Andrew and Linda were keen for us to sample some local produce and kindly offered to be our drivers, so we could have as much beer as we wanted. Purely for taste purposes you understand… Needless to say, we accepted their generosity with little deliberation.

Vermont proved to be a beautiful week: stinging cold at times, but the students warmed us with their enthusiastic engagement with our classes. Before leaving for Austin, Texas; we met Lisa and Andrew for a final brewery trip to the Burlington Beer Company. The B.B.C (as I like to call it) is a trendy, bright, light, brewery where you can order flights of beer that are given tasting notes as if they were fine wines: ‘citrussy with notes of lemon and grapefruit.’ I have to say they were sublime and also looked perfect. You felt almost like you were drinking a beer in a cartoon, the colours were so vivid and the beer so perfectly poured.

The hazy delight of Sunday afternoon spent at the B.B.C (remember: Burlington Beer Company) was abruptly shattered by a 3:00am wake up call to catch our 6:00am flight to Austin. To add to our woes, the hotel had run out of water, so we met in the lobby un-showered, with bed hair and an extra spray of deodorant, to be courteous to our fellow passengers.

Our first flight to Philadelphia was delayed by an hour, which had the unfortunate knock-on effect of making us miss our connecting flight. We managed to get on a flight to North Carolina, then finally on to Austin, Texas.

Although it all worked out in the end, this did mean in one day we had been in Vermont, Pennsylvania, North Carolina and, finally, Texas. I have to say as a group we dealt with this incredibly testing day very well. It would have been very understandable for someone to lose their temper or snap; bearing in mind we had got up at 3:30 am, rushed to get a flight, missed it, hadn’t been able to shower in the morning, and now had 5 hours added to our journey. However, everyone was kind, patient and looked after each other. Well done team!