A multi-cultural, gender-diverse cast is announced for a “flamboyant and joyous” As You Like It, the first full production for Northern Broadsides since the beginning of the pandemic.
In a New Vic Theatre world première co-production, it's at the Dukes in Lancaster March 1–5 and The Lowry in Salford March 8–12.
This staging emboldens the themes of love, gender, identity and power in Shakespeare’s original.
Set in a stylish but stifling court, where the Duke is all-powerful and brute strength is championed over basic human decency, the high-spirited Rosalind and devoted cousin Celia are no longer welcome. When they escape into the forest in disguise, they bump into the recent object of Rosalind’s affection, Orlando, leading to an elaborate game of identity where all the world’s a stage and all the men and women merely players.