As You Like It 2022 West Yorkshire

Info

‘As You Like It’ celebrates difference, self-expression and fluid identities. As the characters journey through the Forest of Arden, they ‘put on’ different genders as they discover themselves and who they can love. Theatre Company Northern Broadsides are proud to have a wonderfully diverse cast, many of whom belong to the LGBTQ+ community.

“The play is bursting with queerness,” says Hallam Breen, the show’s Assistant Director. “Who loves who? What is it about that person they’re attracted to? How do these characters identify? How does that change and evolve? Who do these people become? In making this show, we answered some of these questions, some we didn’t – and deliberately so. Shakespeare’s play is fluid and contradictory and ethereal so why wouldn’t we embrace that when making it? As a queer person myself, this show fills me with enormous pride when I see all the fantastic queerness we’ve managed to uncover in the play. I cannot wait to share this production with audiences.”

A flamboyant and joyous ‘play for our times’, 12 fabulous Northern actors including non-binary and disabled performers star in this bold, refreshing staging of ‘As You Like It’ - challenging us to imagine a new future. Capturing the sheer joy of live performance and the crazy power of love to change the world, this interpretation emboldens the timeless themes of love, gender, identity and power in Shakespeare’s original.

Set in a stylish but stifling court, where the Duke is all powerful and brute strength is championed over basic human decency, the high-spirited Rosalind and devoted cousin Celia are no longer welcome. When they escape into the forest in disguise, they bump into the recent object of Rosalind’s affection, Orlando, leading to an elaborate game of fluid identity where all the world’s a stage and all the men and women merely players.

As the seasons change in this magical place, normal roles dissolve and assumptions are turned on their head in this celebration of the transformative power of love and the natural world, featuring some of Shakespeare’s most vivid characters and memorable poetry.

Dates & Times
• Thursday 9th – Saturday 18th June @ 7.30pm
• Matinees on Saturdays & Sundays @ 2.30pm
• Post-show discussion included after the performance on Tuesday 14th June

Ticket Prices
• Adult: £19 - £21
• *Child: £19
• Student: £19
• Over 65: £19
• Accessible Needs: £19
• Group Booking: Buy 11 tickets, get 1 FREE

*AGE GUIDANCE of 12+