As You Like It

Dramaturgy Packet

Actor Questionnaire, Character Analysis, Production History, and

Allusions

By Shannon Powlick and Danielle Shinder

As You Like It – Character Questionnaire

• What is your character’s name?

• Does your character have a nickname? How did they get their nickname?

• Where does your character call home?

• Who are the people that your character is closest to?

• Does your character desire to be closer to anyone? If so, who?

• Where does your character go when he/she is angry or upset?

• What is your character’s biggest fear? Who have they told this to? Who would they never tell this to? Why?

• If you could change one thing about your character, what would it be? Why?

• What is the quality your character likes most in the opposite sex?

• Has your character ever been in love? Had a broken heart? What is LOVE to your character?

• How does your character feel at the conclusion of the play?

• What happens to your character after the play concludes?

Broadway Production History:
• 7/14/1786 – Closing date unknown. John Street Theatre.
• 10/18/1869 - Closing date unknown. Daly’s Fifth Avenue Theatre.
Mary Frances Scott-Siddons starred as Rosalind
• 2/27/1902 - 4/1902. Theatre Republic. 60 Total Performances
• 3/4/1907 - Closing date unknown. Garden Theatre. This production played in repertory with
The Merchant of Venice, Macbeth, Julius Caesar, Much Ado About Nothing, Twelfth Night,
Masks and Faces, Everyman.
• 2/7/1910 - 3/21/1910. Academy of Music. This production played in repertory with Romeo
and Juliet, The Taming of the Shrew, The Merchant of Venice, Hamlet, Twelfth Night.
• 12/5/1910 - Closing date unknown. Broadway Theatre. This production played in repertory
with Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, and Hamlet. Julia Marlowe and E.H. Sothern starred in
this production.
• 4/17/1911 - Closing date unknown. Daly’s Theatre. This production played in repertory
with Richelieu, Louis XI, The Merchant of Venice, Hamlet, Othello, Romeo and Juliet,
Macbeth, Julius Caesar, King Richard III, King Lear.
• 11/20/1911 - Closing date unknown. Manhattan Opera House. This production played in
repertory with Macbeth, The Taming of the Shrew, Hamlet, The Merchant of Venice, Romeo
and Juliet, Twelfth Night.
• 9/30/1912 - 11/2/1912. Manhattan Opera House. This production played in repertory with
Macbeth, Much Ado About Nothing, The Taming of the Shrew, Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet,
Twelfth Night, The Merchant of Venice.
• 9/22/1913 - 10/25/1913. Manhattan Opera House. This production played in repertory with
If I Were King, Much Ado About Nothing, The Taming of the Shrew, Romeo and Juliet,
Hamlet, The Merchant of Venice, Macbeth, Twelfth Night. Julia Marlowe, E.H. Sothern, and
Frederick Lewis starred in this production.
• 3/16/1914 - Closing date unknown. Hudson Theatre. This production played in repertory
with The Taming of the Shrew, Twelfth Night.
• 2/8/1918 - 2/9/1918. Cort Theatre, NY. 2 Total Performances.
• 1/21/1919 - 1/21/1919. Plymouth Theatre. 1 Total Performance. Henry Herbert, J. Harry
Irvine, Elsie MacKay, and Allen Thomas starred in this production.
• 4/23/1923 - circa. 4/1923. 48th Street Theatre. 8 Total Performances. Marjorie Rambeau
and Ian Keith starred as Rosalind and Orlando in this production.
• 3/24/1930 - Closing date unknown. Shubert Theatre.
• 12/25/1930 - Closing date unknown. Ambassador Theatre.
• 10/30/1937 - circa. 11/1937. Ritz Theatre.
• 10/20/1941 - 10/25/1941. Mansfield Theatre. 8 Total Performances. Helen Craig and
Alfred Drake starred as Rosalind and Orlando.
• 7/3/1945 - circa. 7/1945. President Theatre. 7 Total Performances.
• 2/20/1947 - 3/8/1947. New Century Theatre. 4 Total Performances. This production
played in repertory with King Lear, The Merchant of Venice, Volpone, Hamlet.
• 1/26/1950 - 6/3/1950. Cort Theatre. 145 Total Performances. This production starred
Katharine Hepburn as Rosalind and Cloris Leachman as Celia.
• 12/3/1974 - 12/8/1974. Mark Hellinger Theatre. 8 Total Performances. This production
starred an entirely male cast.
 • 11/12/1986 - 5/31/1987. Belasco Theatre. 174 Total Performances. This production played
in repertory with Macbeth and Romeo and Juliet.
For more information visit:
The International Broadway Database http://www.ibdb.com

Off-Broadway Production History:

• 1/20/1958-2/22/1958. Joseph Papp Public Theatre/New York Shakespeare Festival.
Hecksher Theatre
• 10/27/1964. ANTA Matinee Series. Lucille Lortel Theatre
• 6/21/1973- 7/21/1973. Joseph Papp Public Theatre/New York Shakespeare Festival.
Delacorte Theatre
• 5/18/1997 – 6/4/1997. Acting Company. Theater at St. Clement’s Chruch
• 4/7/2003- 5/4/2003. Joseph Papp Public Theatre/New York Shakespeare Festival.
Martinson Hall.
• 7/12/2005- 7/17/2005. The Public Theatre. Delacorte Theatre
For more information visit:
Lortel Archives. The International Off-Broadway Database
Film Production History:
• 1908 – Dir. Keanan Buel
• 1912 – Dir. J.Stuart Blackton & Charles Kent
• 1936 – Dir. Paul Czinner. Laurence Olivier starred as Orlando
• 1946 - Dir. Ian Atkins
• 1963 – Dir. Michael Elliot & Ronald Eyre. Vanessa Redgrave starred as Rosalind. Made for
TV
• 1978 – Dir. Basil Coleman. Helen Mirren starred as Rosalind. Made for TV
• 1983 – Dir. John Hirsch.
• 1992 – Dir. Christine Edzard. Adapted for the action to take place in an urban setting
• 2006 – Kenneth Branaugh. Bryce Dallas Howard starred as Rosalind. Other supporting cast
members included: Kevin Kline as Jaques and Alfred Molina as Touchstone. This adaptation
was set in 19th Century Japan.

For more information visit:

The International Movie Database imdb.com

Other Noted Productions:

• Like You Like It. A 80s themed musical adaptation by Daniel Aquisito and Sammy Buck.
• 1999, Williamstown Theatre Festival. Gwyneth Paltrow and Katherine Moennig starred as
Rosalind and Celia.
• 2009 season, Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre in London
• 2009/2010 season at the Shakespeare Theatre Company in Washington, DC
Early Performance History:
• We think that As You Like It was written for the newly opened Globe Theatre and performed
first in 1599. Some have pointed to Jaques’s famous speech which begins 'all the world (i.e. the
Globe)’s a stage' to support this. It is said that Shakespeare himself played the part of Adam in
early performances, though no proof for this survives. In 1603 the play is thought to have been
revived for a performance in front of James VI/I at Wilton House in Wiltshire, but again no
evidence exists (rsc.org).
• 1723 – Drury Lane. Charles Johnson staged the first of many greatly altered versions. Johnson,
a playwright, tavern keeper and freemason called his adaptation Love in a Forest. He omitted
Touchstone and some of the lower class characters. He made the melancholy Jaques fall in love
with Celia citing some of Benedick’s lines from Much Ado About Nothing. He also substituted a
duel with rapiers for the wrestling match between Charles and Orlando, during which they
uttered defiant speeches from Richard II.
• 1741. The first revival of the play with a text close to Shakespeare’s own was staged in 1740,
again at Drury Lane. In October 1741, rival productions were staged at Drury Lane and Covent
Garden with Hannah Pritchard and Peg Woffington both playing Rosalind. They were rivals in
the role for a further nine years. Woffington continued to play the role until 1757, when she
suffered a stroke during the epilogue.
The nineteenth century actor/manager William Charles Macready (1793-1873) staged a
magnificent production at Drury Lane in 1842, using an almost complete original text.

Famous Rosalinds:
Since the early 1800s the theatrical history of As You Like It has been dominated by its Rosalinds.
Rosalind is the longest part Shakespeare wrote for a woman. It has attracted many of the greatest
actresses of each generation.
• Perhaps the most famous eighteenth century Rosalind was the greatly admired Dorothy
Jordan, the Irish born actress and celebrated mistress of the Duke of Clarence - later King
William IV - by whom she had ten children. Well known for playing comic tomboy roles,
Mrs Jordan played Rosalind from 1778 to 1814.
• Sarah Siddons, the greatest tragic actress of her age, was not a great success as Rosalind.
She is said to have brought a feminine playfulness to the role but she refused to dress as a
man when Ganymede and she lacked the brashness and sauciness audiences had come to
expect from the part.
• Helen Faucit played Rosalind frequently and successfully from 1845 until her retirement in
1879.
• Ada Rehan was a tremendously successful Rosalind in 1890. Almost without exception
critics thought her performance was 'perfection'. George Bernard Shaw described her as both
'enchanting' and 'irresistible'.
• Vanessa Redgrave played Rosalind in Michael Elliott’s production at Stratford in 1961 to
outstanding critical acclaim. Bernard Levin wrote: 'The naturalness of her playing, the
passionate, breathless conviction of it, the depth of feeling and the breadth of reality – this is
not acting at all, but living, being, loving.'

All Male Casts:

 • Jan Kott’s seminal work, Shakespeare Our Contemporary, greatly influenced productions of
Shakespeare’s plays after its publication in the UK in 1965. Many critics claimed that Kott’s
argument that all-male casting could best demonstrate the sexual ambiguity in As You Like It
influenced Clifford Williams’ production for the National Theatre at the Old Vic in 1967 in
which Ronald Pickup as Rosalind headed an all-male cast. Williams denied such a
suggestion maintaining that he was trying simply to create an atmosphere of sexual purity
that would transcend sexuality.
Cheek by Jowl also staged As You Like It with an all-male cast in 1991. The production was
directed by Declan Donnellan. John Peter, theatre critic for the Sunday Times, described
Donnellan’s attempt to conform to Elizabethan practice as 'not a question of merely
transcending sexuality or of being in drag, but of actors reaching out toward a different
experience and communicating a different mode of being (rsc.org)

http://www.rsc.org.uk/asyoulikeitpack/about/performance-history.html

Importance of Names in As You Like It

Rosalind: The name Rosalind was taken directly from Lodge’s Rosalynde. The name itself has
Germanic origins – “hros” and “linde” mean “gentle horse.” This may have been Shakespeare’s
way of describing Rosalind’s personality – strong and able to take charge, but also soft and
feminine when with Celia. The name is also a reference to the Latin “Rosa Linda,” which means
“beautiful rose” and seems to describe Rosalind as a person.

Orlando: Orlando is a derivation of the name “Roland” which means “renowned land.” Roland is a
name that is commonly used for heroes and was a popular legendary figure in medieval Europe.
One noteworthy Roland was a military governor under Charlemagne who was the subject of the
epic poem The Song of Roland. Orlando is also a significant name in the Italian epic Orlando
Furioso by Ludovico Ariosto. In this story, Orlando serves as a Christian champion under
Charlemagne (an idea which may parallel the concept of Shakespeare’s Orlando as a Christ figure).
It is plausible that Shakespeare used this as a reference, because some of the plot of Much Ado
About Nothing is based on Ariosto’s story.

Oliver: The name Oliver derives from the Latin word for “Olive Tree.” Oliver was also the name of
one of Charlemagne’s knights in The Song of Roland (similar to Orlando). This name may have
been a foreshadowing of Oliver’s conversion, because an olive branch is usually seen as a symbol
of peace.

Celia: The name Celia is derived from the Latin word for “heaven.” This name wasn’t introduced to
the English speaking world until Shakespeare used it in As You Like It.

Touchstone: A touchstone is a black stone that is used to measure the purity of precious metals.
This is significant for the character because Touchstone’s presence in the story makes others reveal
their true qualities.

Jaques: This seems to be a play on the word “jakes” – British slang meaning “toilet.” This could
possibly be Shakespeare’s way of describing Jaques’ depressing and somewhat unlikeable
character.
Phoebe: From the Greek name Phoibe, which means “bright” and “pure.” This name is ironic
because the “pure” one loves the person who treats her terribly, but only ends up marrying the
person who truly loves her by accident.

Audrey: The name Audrey is derived from Old English words meaning “noble” and “strength.”
Using a name that means “noble” for a simple country girl could be Shakespeare’s way of
foreshadowing her eventual ascension in status by marrying Touchstone.

Silvius: From the Latin word meaning “man in the woods”

Aliena: From the Latin word meaning “stranger” or “belonging to someone else.” This seems to be
an appropriate name for Celia to take as she chooses to go with Rosalind instead of stay with her
father (she now “belongs to someone else”).

Ganymede: In mythology, Ganymede was a shepherd from Troy who was abducted by Jupiter
(Jove/Zeus) to serve as his lover and a cup-bearer to the Olympian gods (a position of distinction).
In the story, Ganymede was taken by an eagle and brought to Jupiter. Jupiter picked Ganymede
because he was remarkably beautiful (he was often considered to be the most beautiful of all
mortals). Ganymede has served as an artistic expression and symbol for male homosexuality, as
well as pederasty (the love of an older man for a youth). The name eventually became a term
synonymous with catamite (the younger, passive partner in a pederastic relationship).

Important Mythological Allusions

Jove: Jove was the King of the Gods (also known as Jupiter or Zeus) and he ruled over law and
order. Jove sends an eagle to take the mortal, Ganymede, to be his cup-bearer and lover. The
expression “by Jove” because popular in the late 16th century, and it was often quoted that “Jove
laughs at lovers’ perjuries.”

Juno/Juno’s Swans: Juno (also known as Hera) was the queen of heaven and the wife of Jove
(Jupiter/Zeus). She was a goddess of womanhood, childbirth, and marriage. Because swans were
thought to mate for life, they became a fitting symbol for the goddess of marriage.

Hymen: Hymen was the god of marriage. It was believed that Hymen must attend every wedding,
or else the marriage will fail. Many scholars believe that Hymen’s appearance at the end of As You
Like It may have been an interpolation by a hand other than Shakespeare’s.

Hercules: Although Hercules is only directly mentioned once in the text of the play (when Rosalind
says to Orlando “Now Hercules be thy speed, young man!” [I, ii, 204]), Hercules is actually a
dominant mythological figure in the story. Hercules was one of the best-known mythological
figures during the Renaissance, and is often seen as a symbol of heroic strength and moral fortitude.
Throughout As You Like It, Shakespeare establishes Orlando as the Herculean figure. Herculean
allusions are made during the catalyst that begins the action of the play, as well as at the play’s
turning point.
The first allusion to Hercules occurs during the wrestling match and Orlando’s defeat of
Charles. In Thomas Lodge’s Rosalynde (the story on which much of As You Like It is based), Lodge
describes the wrestler as a parallel to Hercules. However, Shakespeare changes the allusion to make
Orlando the Herculean figure by drawing parallels between this wrestling match and that of
Hercules and Antaeus. In Greek mythology, Antaeus was the son of the Earth and could be made
stronger and healed in battle by lying on the earth. This meant that Hercules could only defeat him
if he held Antaeus above the ground. This story is referenced in Charles’ line “Come, where is this
young gallant that so desirous to lie with his mother earth?” (I, ii, 193-194). The story of Hercules
and Antaeus was widely known by Elizabethans, so an audience of As You Like It would most likely
understand this reference.
The second major allusion to Hercules occurs when Orlando rescues his sleeping brother,
Oliver, from a snake and a lion. The snake is a reference to Hercules’s defeat of the snakes sent to
him by Hera, as well as his defeat of the Learnaen Hydra. The defeat of the lioness is an allusion to
Hercules wrestling and conquering the Nemean lion. Hercules’s battles with snakes, lions, and
monsters were often believed to be the consequence of his moral decision between vice and virtue.
This idea parallels Orlando’s moral struggle and decision to save his enemy, Oliver. In Elizabethan
times, a defeat of a snake and a lion often symbolized the defeat of arrogance and envy, so
Orlando’s victory can be seen as a symbol of the defeat of the egotism and jealousy that his brother
embodied.
While those are the two major allusions that solidify Orlando as a Herculean figure,
Shakespeare makes other references to Orlando’s character that can be seen as Herculean. For
example, after meeting Rosalind, Orlando appears “tongue-tied.” This may be an allusion to
Hercules Gallus, which is a depiction of Hercules with a golden chain running from his tongue to
the ears of other men. This idea can be reinforced by Orlando’s line “What passion hangs these
weights upon my tongue?” (I, ii, 258), after Rosalind presents him with a chain. There are also
parallels between Omphale’s love taming Hercules, as Rosalind’s love tames Orlando. A final
noteworthy reference to Hercules comes when Celia tells Rosalind that she found Orlando under a
tree “like a dropped acorn” (III, ii, 239). Rosalind’s reply “It may well be called Jove’s tree when it
drops forth such fruit” (III, ii, 240-241) alludes to the fact that the oak tree was considered a symbol
of Jove, and it was Jove who produced Hercules.

Biblical and Literary Allusions

Biblical References: Some scholars will make the claim that As You Like It can be viewed as a
religious allegory (one all-female production even re-worked the script to make these references
more apparent). However, these allusions are not always clear. It can be said that there are parallels
between the Forest of Arden and the Garden of Eden (for example, the appearance of the snake or
the palm and olive trees). Some scholars believe that Duke Senior can be compared to Moses in the
wilderness, that Duke Frederick has parallels with Pharaoh or Herod, and that the two sets of
feuding brothers (Oliver and Orlando/Duke Senior and Duke Frederick) are an allusion to Cain and
Abel. The name Adam also has biblical significance. When Shakespeare adapted Lodge’s work
Rosalynde, he changed the name of the servant from Adam Spencer to simply Adam. This can be
seen as significant because Adam in As You Like It is a gardener who tries to pacify Orlando and
Oliver, much like the biblical Adam did for Cain and Abel.
The other major biblical allusion ties in to the idea of Orlando as a Herculean Christ-figure.
As Richard Knowles suggested, Hercules was a “half-divine, self-sacrificing benefactor of men.”
Hercules gained immortality by destroying monsters, which can be linked to the idea of destroying
human vices (as Orlando demonstrates).

Lodge’s Rosalynde: Rosalynde was a story written by Thomas Lodge in 1590. Shakespeare based
much of As You Like It off of this story. Rosalynde draws much of it’s storyline from The Tale of
Gamelyn, a fourteenth century ballad of the Robin Hood cycle. Gamelyn is based off of the idea of a
hero who is defrauded by his older brother and becomes and outlaw in the forest. Lodge set his
story as a pastoral romance and changed the English outlaws to courtly Arcadians. Shakespeare
retained a few of the names of the characters of Rosalynde, but many where changed. The major
characters in Rosalynde are:
• Rosalind • Alinda (Celia)
• Anonymous Norman (Charles) • Adam Spencer (Adam)
• Rosader (Orlando) • Montanus (Silvius)
• Saladin (Oliver) • Ganimede (Ganymede)
• Phoebe • Aliena
• Coridon (Corin)
• Duke Torismond (Frederick)
• Duke Gersimond (Senior)
Shakespeare’s characters in As You Like It have been humanized and given specific traits
and flaws, instead of Lodge’s stereotyped characters. When adapting Lodge’s story,
Shakespeare aimed to simplify it and change the basis of the characters’ motivation from
whether to love to how to love.

The Tale of Gamelyn: This story was written around 1350. It is a verse romance made up
of 902 lines of long couplets. This story can be related to Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales,
but was not written by Chaucer. The story tells of Gamelyn’s flight to the forest and his
attempts to recover his stolen birthright. The Tale of Gamelyn served as a prototype for
Rosalynde and therefore As You Like It, and has a relationship to the Robin Hood story.
 References

Bear, Risa. “Rosalynde (a translation)”. Renascence Editions. 2001. University of

Oregon. 9 Dec. 2009. <www.luminarium.org/renascence-editions/lodge/lodge1.html>.

Drabble, Margaret, and Jenny Stringer. "Gamelyn, The Tale of." The Concise Oxford
Companion to English Literature. 2003. Encyclopedia.com. 9 Dec. 2009
<http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

Dunton-Downer, Leslie and Alan Riding. Essential Shakespeare Handbook. New York:
DK Publishing, 2004.

“Elizabethan Prose Fiction: Rosalynde”. Cambridge History of English and American

Literature. Vol. 3. Bartleby. 11 Dec. 2009. <http://www.bartleby.com/213/1613.html>.

Griffith, Peter R. “Subjects of the Visual Arts: Ganymede”. Glbtq: An Encyclopedia of

Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer Culture. 2002. 30 Nov. 2009.
<www.glbtq.com/arts/subjects_ganymede.html>.

Hunt, C.M. “Meaning of Names in Shakespeare’s As You Like It”. Associated Content
10 Nov. 2005. 10 Dec. 2009.
<http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/13199/meaning_of_names_in_
shakespeares_as.html?cat=38>.

“Instruction Versus Deception: From Rosalynde to As You Like It”. 11 Dec. 2009.
<www.io.com/~jlockett/Grist/English/ayli-sources.html>.

Internet Broadway Database. <www.ibdb.com>.

Internet Movie Database. <www.imdb.com>.

Knowles, Elizabeth. “Jove.” The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. Oxford
University Press. 2006. 23 Nov. 2009. <www.encyclopedia.com>.

Knowles, Richard. “Myth and Type in As You Like It”. ELH 30.1 (1966): 1-22. JStor. 23
Nov. 2009. <www.jstor.org/stable/2872131>.

O’Connor, Evangeline M. Who’s Who and What’s What in Shakespeare. New York:
Gramcery Books, 2000.

“Think Baby Names”. Baby Names. 2009. <www.thinkbabynames.com>.