Rick Lombardo's As You Like It

The Shakespeare play, As You Like It is a `pastoral comedy that invites the audience to a world of its own. This world demonstrates that we are all players or actors and the world is our stage. In everyday like we put on shows and entertain the people around us and this creates a world that has no limits. As You Like It is famous for the one line spoken by the melancholic Jacques who said, "All the world's a stage, and all the men and woman merely players." These famous lines define the true meaning of the play which is executed by the director, Rick Lombardo, and all the actors in this play. The main character of the play are Orlando and Rosalind who fall in love in the hectic atmosphere of the city and both flee separately to the country

Nature was a dominant theme to me because it had so much impact on the characters and mood throughout the entire play. It was a driving factor to the changes that each character experienced and the fact that the play went through all four seasons was very prevalent. In Shakespeare's As You Like It city which is the setting in the beginning of the play seems very corrupt and unstable, then as we move in to the Forest of Arden, there is a peaceful utopian getaway type of feel that is present from that point on. The theme nature had a very impactful effect on the main character, Orlando especially. We can see clearly his change from the beginning to the end with him being scorned by his brother Oliver and essentially bitter, eventually he left and became at peace with who he was and ended up saving his very brother's life, showing his

This is demonstrated through Duke Senior, who was banished/exiled by (in this play) her sister Duke Fredrick who to the throne and left her with nothing. From this you would think that Duke Senior would be somewhat upset, bitter, jealous, or even sad, but when we finally meet this character there is nothing but peace and happiness that surrounds her. It's as if living in the Forest of Arden and being surrounded by the healing powers of nature 24/7 has healed her of whatever spite or ill will she might have had in the beginning. Not only was she able to find peace within herself, but she used her own wisdom to help others who came to the forest whether by force or by choice, but all who were broken in spirit and needed