As You Like It

Synopsis
A video recording, using a single, fixed camera, of the Royal Shakespeare Company’s 1985 production of As You Like It. Directed by Adrian Noble with Fiona Shaw as Celia and Juliet Stevenson as Rosalind. Alan Rickman is Jaques.
Language
English
Country
Great Britain
Medium
Video
Technical information
Colour / Sound
Recording date
12 Nov 1985
Duration
177 mins

Credits

Director
Adrian Noble
Writer
William Shakespeare
Music
Howard Blake
Production Design
Bob Crowley
Cast
Juliet StevensonRosalind
Fiona ShawCelia
Hilton McRaeOrlando
Nicky HensonTouchstone
Alan RickmanJaques
Alan BrookesPage
Alexander WilsonLord
Andrew YeatsAmiens
Brian HorsteadLord
Bruce AlexanderOliver
Campbell MorrisonCharles
Campbell MorrisonWilliam
Christopher StorrPage
Colin DouglasCorin
Griffith JonesLe Beau
Griffith JonesSir Oliver Martext
Hugh SimonLord
Joseph O’ConorDuke Senior
Joseph O’ConorDuke Frederick
Lesley ManvillePhebe
Mark BrooksPage
Mark DignamAdam
Mary Jo RandleAudrey
Paul SpenceLord
Paul SpenceJaques de Boys
Richard ConwayLord
Roger HyamsSilvius
Russell BoulterDennis
Russell BoulterLord
Simon PagePage

Additional Details

Theatre
Royal Shakespeare Theatre
Theatre company
Royal Shakespeare Company
Production type
Stage Recordings
Historical period
1980s
Plays
As You Like It
Subjects
Drama
Keywords
Shakespeare, William (1564-1616)

Notes

General
`As You Like It is done mostly in modern dress on a stage bare save for a glass-less mirror, a green longcase clock and endless swathes of diaphanous white fabric, which, when not covering the landscape like snow, swells up into a tent or a palaquin. The exiled Duke and his forest companions wear white tie and tails. Touchstone sports an umbrella, and Audrey looks like a comic punk. But these Chagall-like visuals are used for lightning quick changes from forest to court." John Barber, Daily Telegraph (24 April 1985).
History
Press night 23 April 1985
Stills
Stills from, and design notes on, the production are available on the Arts and Humanities Performing Arts Data Service (AHDS) at http://ahds.ac.uk/performingarts/collections/designing-shakespeare.htm
Reviews
Shaw, Fiona & Stevenson, Juliet ‘Rosalind and Celia in As You Like It’ in Jackson, Russell & Smallwood, Robert (eds). Players of Shakespeare 2: Further Essays in Shakespearean Performance by Players with the Royal Shakespeare Company. (Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press, 1988), pp 55-71.

[Fiona Shaw and Juliet Stevenson, who played Celia and Rosalind respectively in Adrian Noble’s production, discusses their preparation for and conception of the roles, especially the importance of the friendship between the two characters and the dominant presence of fathers and absence of mothers.]

Production Company

Name

Royal Shakespeare Company

Web
https://www.rsc.org.uk External site opens in new window
Address
Royal Shakespeare Theatre
Waterside
Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire
CV37 6BB

Archive

Name

Shakespeare Birthplace Collections

Email
collections@shakespeare.org.uk
Web
https://www.shakespeare.org.uk/explore-shakespeare/collections/ External site opens in new window
Address
Shakespeare Centre
Henley Street
Stratford-upon-Avon
CV37 6QW

How to cite this record

Shakespeare, "As You Like It". https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/shakespeare/search/index.php/title/av38137 (Accessed 03 Oct 2024)