AS YOU LIKE IT

DIRECTED BY DAMIEN RYAN

Queensland Theatre acknowledges the Jagera and Turrbal people who are the Traditional Custodians of the land on which we work, and their unique relationship with the lands, seas and waterways. We pay our respects to their Elders both past and present, and to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

Four weddings, songs, goats and a whole lot of disguises offered the possibility of laughter and lightness that we could really look forward to. So, As You Like It was an almost obvious choice.

As this year is unfolding, yes, we are enjoying the fun theatre has to offer, but we are all starting to appreciate again the electricity of complex live storytelling. The richness of a theatrical experience and the way the story reaches out in the dark to keep you talking about it for weeks — that is what is thrilling us all again!

As You Like It, in the hands of this company of actors led by Damien Ryan offers not just laughter but a story that is big and challenging and full of questions that we have always and will always wrestle. How do we survive exile from all we know? Is justice even possible? How do we find our better selves? Do we believe in forgiveness?

Shakespeare’s plays are repositories of great humane conversations. The philosophy and art hived inside his sentences have reached across the planet and across time. There are people who wonder why we keep returning to his plays when there are so many new plays to share. But a state theatre company has a cultural mandate to reach back into the heritage of theatre and preserve culture as much as it must discover and invent. The breadth of our audience interest is huge; the depth of our artists’ love of our classics will never be plumbed. While these two things hold true, Shakespeare will always find a way onto the stage. When times are bright and days are easy the darker plays have their appeal. When the challenges of the world are threatening to overwhelm us works like this are flotation devices to help us catch our breath.

Over the last few weeks the threads of Alec Steedman’s songs have been wrapping their notes around the whole company. The passion of director Damien Ryan has infused all of us with a belief that in this 17th century play is a survival guide to anything that can be thrown at us in the 21st century. And the sounds of goats coming through the rehearsal walls have just been too silly to resist. Beauty, passion, survival, humour and the promise of a rich theatre experience… that is the kind of stuff that is bringing our theatre family back to life.

Enjoy!