As you like it : Shakespeare's comedy of liberty

As you like it

Shakespeare's Comedy of Liberty

Written around 1599, As You Like It still resonates on the contemporary stage with its tyrannical ruler and its numerous exiles. It also tells us much about the obsessions and anxieties of Shakespeare's contemporaries.

Based on a fairly simple plot featuring a valiant young male lover struggling to conquer the heart of a young maid cross-dressing as a man, the comedy not only offers a series of unforgettable parts but also proposes an in-depth meditation on gender, faith, theatrical illusion and political power by holding a distorting mirror up to the mores of the Elizabethan society. Influenced by the pastoral and the contemporary sonnet craze, the play can be regarded as a dramatic potpourri blending literary influences, satirical allusions and poetic purple patches. More importantly, in creating the ambivalent space of the forest of Arden, the playwright provides us with a truly experimental setting in which bricolage takes precedence over plot construction and development.

As You Like It : Shakespeare's Comedy of Liberty takes stock of the latest criticism devoted to the play and sheds fresh light on this innovative comedy by recontextualizing its main themes and emphasizing its points of contact with 21st-century issues.