As You Like It

<p><strong><em>As You Like It</em> is one of Shakespeare's most beloved comedies a play of exile disguise wit love and renewal in the Forest of Arden.</strong> When Rosalind is banished from court she disguises herself as the young man Ganymede and escapes with her cousin Celia into the green world of the forest. There separated lovers banished nobles shepherds fools and melancholy philosophers cross paths in a comedy where identity becomes flexible courtly rules loosen and love can be tested by play performance and sharp intelligence.</p><p>First performed around 1599 and first printed in the 1623 First Folio <em>As You Like It</em> contains some of Shakespeare's most famous and enduring moments including Jaques's All the world's a stage speech and Rosalind's brilliant management of romance language and disguise. The play moves between court and country satire and song melancholy and celebration creating a world where social roles are questioned and wounded lives can be remade.</p><p>Readers drawn to Shakespeare classic drama romantic comedy pastoral literature theatrical disguise and witty heroines will find <em>As You Like It</em> one of the most graceful and satisfying of the comedies. It remains a play about love but also about freedom: the freedom to speak to change to imagine a different life and to return from exile transformed.</p>