Synopsis

“All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players."

"As You Like It" has been described as the 'Sweetest' of Shakespeare's comedies. It deals with two sets of siblings with no love lost for each other, treachery, wrestling and a forest full of man-eating lions and people who fall madly in love with one another at first sight.

Orlando has been kept in isolation by his older brother, Oliver. He is indignant that he has not received his share of his father's inheritance nor a proper education befitting his station. Meanwhile, Duke Frederick has tossed out his older brother, Duke Senior, who has moved into the Forest of Arden with his own band of merry men. There they live like Robin Hood, with the exception of Jaques who refuses to lighten up.

Meanwhile, Duke Senior's daughter, Rosalind, and Duke Frederick's daughter, Celia, meet Orlando, who has come to the Court to wrestle the local champion. Orlando and Rosalind see each other and fall madly in love at first sight. Orlando defeats the champion and then, to make matters worse, lets the Duke know that he is the son of one of Duke Senior's best friends. He is forced to flee into the forest.

Rosalind also gets banished to the forest and Celia goes with her, taking along their servant, Touchstone. They change their identities. Rosalind puts her hair up and announces she is a boy, Ganymede, and Celia changes her dress and announces she is Ganymede's sister, Aliena. These disguises are comparable in subtlety to the clever Clark Kent-Superman, glasses on - glasses off trick that baffled Lois Lane for years. Not surprisingly, they work like a charm.

In the forest, Rosalind and Celia meet a young couple, Silvius, a shepherd who is in love with a beautiful shepherdess named Phebe. Phebe naturally, is taken in by Rosalind's clever disguise as a man, and falls madly in love with her/him. At the same time, Orlando is going about littering the forest with sappy love poetry dedicated to Rosalind. Rosalind confronts him as Ganymede, and convinces him to let him/her teach him how to woo Rosalind.

Then Oliver, Orlando's brother shows up and the two brothers reconcile when Orlando saves him from a man-eating lion. Oliver and Celia immediately fall in love at first sight. Rosalind shakes Phebe and tricks her into marrying Silvius on the rebound and all the couples get married. Finally, Orlando and Oliver's other brother shows up with the news that Duke Frederick, while invading the forest, met a hermit and, bang!, fell in love with the idea of also becoming a hermit and has restored the dukedom to Duke Senior. Happy Ending. Hooray!

- Courtesy of Ridgedale Shakespeare