From Director James Fletcher: AS YOU LIKE IT

What is Shakespeare doing in this, his lightest of comedies? All the conflict occurs in the political world of the first few scenes of the play. There is evil in this world, but not much, just enough to get our heroine and hero to flee into the Forest of Arden. And what is this forest? Biblical references abound in this play, and Arden sounds a whole lot like Eden. If it is Eden, it is Eden after the fall.

This is no idealized pastoral that Shakespeare has written, in fact my belief is that his intent was to turn the pastoral on its head. Shakespeare grew up in this rural world, which must have seemed quite foreign and fantastical to the people of London for whom he was writing. Perhaps he wanted to show his native world in a clearer, truer light.

This “garden” might not be Eden, but it is magical. It’s a simple magic, it contains the magic of double meaning. This play is filled with words that have double, triple, even quadruple meanings. When language can have unlimited meaning, anything is possible. It has a transformative effect, and with only one notable exception, it transforms everyone who enters its confines. It transforms woman to man, vengeance to forgiveness, and hate to love. Arden has no place for evil or cynicism, and those who are unable or unwilling to adapt and transform are banished from its confines.

The world of politics from which our protagonists flee is not a world with multiple meanings and multiple possibilities, and much like today, words there are used to wound and silence. In the forest where there is room for thought and reflection, words can and do have a healing effect. It is only in this world of nature that things can be reinterpreted, renewed, refreshed. What meaning will you find? Welcome to Arden!

AS YOU LIKE IT runs March 8 – March 24!