A Rom Com Walk Through the Forest

Allie Bugajski, Allie and the After Party

TLDR: American Players Theatre’s production of As You Like It will please fans of traditional takes on Shakespeare’s works and those who are fans of his romantic comedies. We’re taken through the character’s one on one scenes where we see their relationships building and changing.

All of Shakespeare Rolled Into One

We enter a royal coronation with every member of the court in attendance and dressed in their finest splendor. A duke has been overthrown and his brother assumes the crown. The scene transforms from the royal court as the fine rugs and tapestries are taken away leaving the large set of stairs covered in bright green astroturf before us. Now it feels like we could be in front of rolling green hills as the breeze gently sways in the trees behind the stage.

As our runaways of the court, those thrown out and those who decided to also leave, enter the Forest of Arden, they come traipsing through the far side aisle entrances of the Hill Theatre. It’s almost as if they’ve trekked through the forest and finally reached a clearing. It’s here that many relationships will be discovered, some will grow, and others change throughout the course of the night.

As You Like It has themes and storylines that we see in later plays of Shakespeare. The play itself feels like a working ground for A Midsummer Night’s Dream as we enter a forest, Twelfth Night as women dress up like men, A Comedy of Errors with mistaken identities, and The Winter’s Tale as children find their parents again. We see these woven throughout the play until it all comes together in a nice, neat bow.