My Initial Reaction to the Play

When I found out we were going to be performing 'As You Like It', I was really excited because even though I had seen this play a few years ago, I couldn't remember much of the plot, so I was really eager to read the play. I'm happy the teachers chose this play because it isn't one of his well known ones and because it is a comedy which I've always wanted to do. I think comedies are a challenge because you constantly have to change your performance according to the audience.

Upon reading 'As You Like It' for the first time, I found it quite challenging as the language is so different to how we speak now. I quickly realised my mistake; I was reading it in my head. Plays, like poetry (which is similar to how Shakespeare writes) is meant to be performed or spoken out loud. As soon as I started reading the play out loud, it started to make more sense. I did have to stop at certain times and look back over the cast list and review the plot line, but other than that I thought that this play had a lot of comedic potential and I started to get really excited about rehearsals. Shakespeare gave no stage directions, which is why I think some people find him so challenging (besides the language). I however, am really thrilled by this prospect, as it gives me the freedom to do whatever I want with my characters physicality. I read the play once without looking at my lines and then again focusing on Celia's story and words. This helped me get into the mind set of Celia and see her importance to the plot. 

However, I felt at some points the dialogue was a bit unnecessary and didn't contribute to the story. Shakespeare wrote his plays incredibly quickly which caused some troubles in his story lines and I think this play is an example of that. For example he named two characters the same (Jaques) and he seems to leave Duke Frederick alone. Whether this was done intentionally we will never know, but after doing some research into how Shakespeare wrote, I think that he did make some mistakes. This didn't distract me from the comedy or the enjoyment I got from reading this play. As for the dialogue I think it works well with Shakespeare's lyrical style and I'm sure when this play was performed in the 1600's it was well received. Although I wasn't sure about the text at some points, after a third reading I began to appreciate how detailed and descriptive Shakespeare's language is and this made me really excited to start tackling the lines of Celia. 

I really enjoyed the story of 'As You Like It' and the journey these characters go on. Unlike most of Shakespeare's well known plays, I feel this play is a light-hearted, funny, slightly ridiculous comedy and that it is a good play to ease us into the world of Shakespeare. I'm looking forward to finding the comedy but also the weight of this piece when we start rehearsals. 

I love the fact that we are setting our play in the modern day as Shakespeare wrote his plays to be performed in modern day, so I think it is an ingenious idea to set ours today as it will help bring the world to life and make the play more relatable.