As You Like It is one of Shakespeare’s great comedies and tells the story of Orlando who, although he was born a gentleman, is poor and uneducated because his brother, Oliver, who was responsible for his education decided to keep the money for himself and effectively disinherit his younger brother. When he challenges his
brother Oliver becomes angry and vows that he will have Orlando killed by a famous wrestler. Meanwhile, Duke Senior has been usurped by his evil brother, Frederick but his daughter, Rosalind, remains at the castle with her cousin, Frederick’s daughter, Celia. When Orlando fights the wrestler he meets Rosalind and the two fall in love. Orlando wins the fight but is discovered to be the son of Frederick’s old enemy and is banished. Rosalind and Celia decide to
dress up and escape into the Forest of Arden where Orlando is in hiding and find Duke Senior to reinstate him to the throne. The fun begins when Rosalind,
dressed as a man named Ganymede, meets Orlando and asks Orlando to pretend that “he” is his lost
love Rosalind and to woo “him” as such. It is a great comical farce that ends happily ever after but has a number of interesting themes that were considerably subversive for the time. While it was usual for men to dress up as
women on the stage, women dressed up as men were a completely different matter. It becomes even more complicated when you consider the fact that women weren’t allowed to act and, therefore, thre actor playing Ganymede would have been a
male dressed as a female dressed as a male!
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