{"id":1957,"date":"2024-08-07T11:02:26","date_gmt":"2024-08-07T15:02:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/shakespeare\/?p=1957"},"modified":"2024-08-07T11:03:12","modified_gmt":"2024-08-07T15:03:12","slug":"as-you-like-it-and-finding-much-virtue-in-if","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/shakespeare\/as-you-like-it-and-finding-much-virtue-in-if\/","title":{"rendered":"“As You Like It” and Finding \u201cmuch virtue in \u2018if\u2019\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Jennifer Birkett<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the late 1590s, William Shakespeare wrote a theatrical comedy based on the then popular romance titled Rosalynde<\/em> by Thomas Lodge. As in Lodge\u2019s romance, Shakespeare\u2019s As You Like It<\/em> 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\u2019s 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 \u201clove\u201d 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\u2019s journey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are multiple legends tied to As You Like It<\/em>. 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\u2019s frustration at meeting a growing audience\u2019s demands: \u201cFine, have it as you like it!\u201d However, as Sara Holdren, the director of this summer\u2019s NDSF production, notes, the title also hints at the play\u2019s deep longing. Woven beneath the lighthearted comedy is a desire for a world as one likes it<\/em>, where one can love freely, be seen genuinely, and escape artificiality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a pastoral comedy, As You Like It<\/em> 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 \u201cthere is no clock in the forest.\u201d 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\u2019s clown puts it, there\u2019s \u201cmuch virtue in \u2018if.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As You Like It<\/em> is an experimentation in \u201cif.\u201d From its abundance of song to its philosophical musings on performativity and its all-too-convenient conclusion, the play exposes Shakespeare\u2019s 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\u2019s production invites us to reimagine our traditional notions of gender, community, politics, and even Shakespeare to inquire after a world \u201cas we like it.\u201d We hope you\u2019ll 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\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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\u2019s romance, Shakespeare\u2019s As You Like It centers on Rosalind, a vibrant female heroine, … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1086,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47488,47487],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1957","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-notre-dame-shakespeare-festival","category-shakespeare"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/shakespeare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1957","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/shakespeare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/shakespeare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/shakespeare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1086"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/shakespeare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1957"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/shakespeare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1957\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1958,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/shakespeare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1957\/revisions\/1958"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/shakespeare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1957"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/shakespeare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1957"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/shakespeare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1957"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}