Shakespeare's 'As You Like It'

Last updated on 12 April 2017

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I went to a high school that didn’t really do much Shakespeare.

‘What kind of high school did you go to?!’ I hear you saying

Well, yeah. Exactly. I mean we ‘did’ Shakespeare in that we studied Romeo and Juliet in English one year, and a couple of times The Ugly Shakespeare Company came to school and put on plays. But we didn’t really do much else. In university I studied The Tempest, and enjoyed that, but my knowledge of Shakespeare’s plays have mostly come from me seeing plays put on by Shakespeare companies or in movie form. I know all about Twelfth Night because of She’s the Man.

“Pop-up Globe, the world’s first temporary working replica of Shakespeare’s theatre, the second Globe, popped up for the first time in Auckland in February 2016 with a twice-extended debut season that sold over 100,000 tickets including 20,000 to school students.”

An incredibly well replicated version of the globe, the Pop Up Globe is an amazing experience. I didn’t get to go last year, but this year the timing worked out better, and I headed along to see As You Like It with some friends.

While we could have stood for cheaper, we decided to sit in the cheap seats (or ‘lower middle class’ as the guy at the check out at the supermarket that day told me), and it was definitely worth the extra money.

We had to Google the plot line for the play before we went in, otherwise Shakespeare can be difficult to understand. But they did it so wonderfully that we could have easily gone into it without knowing anything at all.

The cast was incredible. There are 2 companies who do the 4 plays put on each year. This year, the Kings Company (all male cast) did As You Like It and Henry V. The Queen’s company (mix males and females) did Othello and Much Ado About Nothing. Special shout out to Jonathan Tynan-Moss who played Rosalind. Amazing! He played a woman who dresses up and plays a man, and it was gold. Brilliant.

If you haven’t been yet, I cannot recommend it enough. The plays are going until May 14th. I’m seriously considering going again. Perhaps I’ll check out Much Ado About Nothing.

Have you been to one of the plays yet? As You Like It? Or another?