shakespeare research project

"As You Like It" is a parody comedy written by William Shakespeare and first published in 1623. The narrative follows the protagonist Rosalind, who is the niece of the Duke who in short banishes her and her cousin, Celia, (Daughter of the Duke) to the forest where she has to thus dress as a man, named, Gillymead. Shakespeare throughout this comedy comments on life for a Elizabethan citizen and parodies peoples ideologies socially and politically.


How The Play was staged.
The play originally would have been staged at the Globe Theatre in London. The globe was called this not because of its spherical shape (even though it is not circular) but instead because it was the place where people would come to hear the stories of the world. This is what makes Shakespeare great as his stories resonate around the whole world and are poignant because they simply talk about the human condition.
With an end on stage the lowly paid audience members would have stood in front of the stage where as the gentry of the time would have been seated around the outside of the theatre. Due to acting being seen upon as such a lowly profession as prostitution the actors and companies were not paid alot so the grandiour of the theatre would be all the players could work with. They may have been able to bring on a heath to represent the forest but in turn the imagination of the players and audience members would have been key.

During our adaptation of the play, the scene will be in an actual forest where a war has broken out and the Orlando and Rosalind are two characters caught up in this. Shakespeare's writing is timeless and this is what is so fascinating about "As you like it." We are setting our scene in a world war 3 situation yet the common theme is love which still holds truth to this day.













Political elements of "As You Like It."

"As You Like It" was written towards the end of the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. The tenious links between the powerful protagonist and Queen Elizabeth seem uncanny whilst reading and watching "As You Like It." William Shakespeare was a keen royalist and had previously written Macbeth in support of King James I and had devoted many poetic monlogues to Eliazbeth I in many other of his plays. Shakespeare could be presenting the character Rosalind to challenge the ideas of women in society. Rosalind is a character who only has power when she becomes a man. She needs to physically ascertain the characteristics of "Ganymede"to be recognised, she even suggests that she "ought to show... courageous to petticoat." This quote clearly demonstrates that an Elizabethan woman must become a man to gain power. The irony is, that the eponym with an Elziabethan woman, was all woman. Combatting the Spanish armarda with grit and determination to succeed, she refused marriage and died the "Virgin Queen."Shakespeare at the end of the play demonstrates the intellegence of a woman, as Rosalind manages to negotiate her way out of the situation she finds herself in, by declaring that she is simply a woman.

Many think the name, The Globe, reflects the spherical shape of the theatre, but in fact the Theatre has many sides and the name actually reflects the concept that the plays William Shakespeare told from here were from all around the globe; a different world to that of Elizabethan London. For an actor at The Globe it would have been a daunting experience. Many of the audience went to be seen and after some had been standing for around 3-4 hours after some of Shakespeare lomger works, would have become restless. Fights were famously familiar and courting would take preference over performance which would entail the audience watching other audience members rather than the actors themselves. The Globe did try to combat this, with the most audacious shows and most importantly the thrust stage. The stage comes out into the audience, this allows the actors to get closer to the audience and perhaps more importantly the audience closer to the actors which would then allow them to follow the themes of the play.


One theory behind Shakespeare's iambic pentameter was that the DeDumDeDum structure allowed an audience member to drift in and out of the play as the rhythm was constant without, and if Shakespeare wanted a message to come across he would often break this rhythm.

Following our class today please consider the following when completing this work: Discuss in detail the original staging make sure you go through the design of The Globe Stage, include a diagram for reference, then make direct links to how As You Like It would have been performed and how the elements of the staging would have been used in the original production, be specific. You could discuss the experience of theatre for both the Elizabethan actor and audience. You should also analyse the themes of the play thoroughly, refer to the assignment brief and your notes and make sure you are explaining what relevance the themes/characters had for the audience then and how they are relevant now for a contemporary audience. Use quotes, images and video clips to illustrate and support statements you make.