Book Reviews and More: As You Like It Stratford Festival 2025 A Review

As You Like It

2025

Stratford Festival

Director Chris Abraham

Set and Costume Designer Julie Fox

Lighting Designer Imogen Wilson

Composers Ron Sexsmith and Thomas Ryder Payne

Sound Designer Thomas Ryder Payne

Fight and Intimacy Director Anita Nittoly

Choreographer Adrienne Gould

As You Like It Stratford Festival 2025 A Review

This was the second of six planned shows this season my son and I attended with shows ranging from late May to mid-October. This was also the second Shakespeare my youngest daughter attended, at 14 she loved it. She enjoyed Macbeth so much the day before she asked if we could add a ticket for this one, and she regrets not joining us over the last couple of years. Over the last few years my son, who is now 17, and I have attended a number of plays in Stratford at the festival, and each year we have an ever growing list of shows we want to see. We eagerly await the announcements of the season’s shows and often buy our tickets early in the winter. The other shows we have seen or plan to see this season are Macbeth , The Winter's Tale, Annie, Anne of Green Gables, and Goblin Oedipus. All three of us loved this production

My son and I read a version of this play before it before attending it. And my daughter plans to join us in that going forward, she struggled following this one at times, but put most of it together.

All three of us thought this is an excellent production. We loved the set, the changing costumes, seasons, and the way the play is staged and acted. There were so many fantastic elements in this production.

The summary of the play on the festival site states:

““WE THAT ARE TRUE LOVERS RUN INTO STRANGE CAPERS...”

Harvests have grown thin, and the world is out of joint. Duke Frederick seizes power from his sister, the Duchess, forcing her into exile in the Forest of Arden. Her daughter Rosalind soon follows, fleeing the court with her loyal cousin Celia. Disguised as a boy named Ganymede, Rosalind navigates a new life among exiles, rebels, and the rural inhabitants of an ancient forest. There, she encounters Orlando—fleeing his vindictive brother Oliver—and puts his claim of love to the test. Their witty role-playing sparks a charged, self-questioning, and profound journey towards love.

Amidst mistaken identities, multiple romantic entanglements, and a few songs, the forest becomes a place where exiles, lovers, and a banished Duchess come to see the world—and their place in it—differently. The play ends in celebration, with long-separated families reunited and multiple couples joyfully wed.”

The synopsis in the house program states:

“Harvests have grown thin, and the world is out of joint. Duke Frederick seizes power from his sister, the Duchess, forcing her into exile in the Forest of Arden. Her daughter Rosalind soon follows, fleeing the court with her loyal cousin Celia. Disguised as a boy named Ganymede, Rosalind navigates a new life among exiles, rebels and the rural inhabitants of an ancient forest. There, she encounters Orlando—fleeing his vindictive brother Oliver—and puts his claim of love to the test. Their witty role-playing sparks a charged, self-questioning and profound journey toward love.

Amidst mistaken identities, multiple romantic entanglements and a few songs, the forest becomes a place where exiles, lovers and a banished Duchess come to see the world—and their place in it—differently. The play ends in celebration, with long-separated families reunited and multiple couples joyfully wed.”

After the play we have an almost an hour drive home, and usually spend the time discussing the performance. Even thought it was very late after a dinner out in Stratford we talked about this play the whole way home. One of the things we often discuss is favourite performers. We each come up with our list, this time there is some overlap.

My top ranking for the performers would be:

Sara Farb as Rosalind

Seana McKkenna as the Duchess

Christoipher Allen as Orlando

Steve Ross as Touchstone a Clown

Jessica B. Hill as Phoebe

My son's top picks are:

Aaron Krohn as Jacques

Seana McKkenna as the Duchess

Sean Arbuckle as the Duke

Christoipher Allen as Orlando

Andrew Chown as Oliver

My daughters were:

Seana McKkenna as the Duchess

Steve Ross as Touchstone a Clown

Sara Farb as Rosalind

Christoipher Allen as Orlando

Andrew Chown as Oliver

The cast is:

Vourt of Duke Frederick:

Rosalind, Daughter Of The Banished Duchess - Sara Farb

Celia, Daughter Of Duke Frederick - Makambe K. Simamba

Duke Frederick, The New Duke - Sean Arbuckle

Orlando, Youngest Son Of Sir Rowland De Boys - Christopher Allen

Jaques De Boys, Second Son Of Sir Rowland De Boys - Evan Mercer

Oliver, Oldest Son Of Sir Rowland De Boys - Andrew Chown

Adam, Servant To The De Boys Family - John Ng

Dennis, Assistant To Oliver - Norman Yeung

Touchstone, A Clown - Steve Ross

Le Beau, A Courtier - Jeff Lillico

Charles, A Wrestler - Joe Perry

Hysperia, Attendant To Celia - Ashley Dingwell

Guards - Thomas Duplessie, Jesse Gervais, Leon Qin

Labourers, Lords And Ladies - Gabriel Antonacci, Shane Carty, Jacklyn Francis, Jessica B. Hill, Hiro Kanagawa, Michael Man, Silvae Mercedes, Evan Mercer, Olivia Sinclair-Brisbane, Nadine Villasin

Forest Of Arden:

The Duchess - Seana Mckenna

Jaques, A Melancholic - Aaron Krohn

Amiens, Follower Of The Banished Duchess - Gabriel Antonacci

Exiled Court Of The Duchess - Shane Carty, Ashley Dingwell, Thomas Duplessie, Jacklyn Francis, Jesse Gervais, Jeff Lillico, Evan Mercer, Joe Perry, Leon Qin, Olivia Sinclair-Brisbane, Nadine Villasin, Norman Yeung

Corin, A Shepherd, Hiro Kanagawa

Silvius, A Young Shepherd - Michael Man

Phoebe, A Young Shepherdess - Jessica B. Hill

Audrey, A Goat Herder - Silvae Mercedes

William, A Country Boy - Leon Qin

Understudies:

Rosalind - Celia Aloma

Jaques - Gabriel Antonacci

Adam, Duke Frederick - Shane Carty

Phoebe - Ashley Dingwell

Le Beau, Dennis, William - Thomas Duplessie

The Duchess, Lord - Jacklyn Francis

Corin, Charles, Guard, Jaques De Boys - Jesse Gervais

Touchstone - Jeff Lillico

Amiens, Silvius - Evan Mercer

Orlando - Joe Perry

Celia - Olivia Sinclair-Brisbane

Audrey, Hysperia, Lady - Nadine Villasin

Oliver - Norman Yeung

My youngest daughter straggled following this play a bit, but she had not read it or seen a filmed version of it. But even with that she loved it. She thought the acting was amazing. All three of us loved the sets, with the shifting seasons, and the interactions with Touchstone after the intermission were wonderful.

This is would be easier play to follow if you had read it or seen a different version. It is not one we did when I was in school, and my children do not have it in high school currently. But it is a wonderful tale and this was a great production of it. My daughter kept leaning over saying another wedding and loved the quadruple nuptials at the end. The final song and curtain call are worth the price of admission just by themselves.. The director’s note by Chris Abraham in the handbill states:

“It is a play written during a pivotal time in 1599, marked by uncertainty, shifting power, changing landscapes and uneasy transitions. Queen Elizabeth was in her 41st year of reign, aging, and the question of succession loomed over England. A generation of young people faced an uncertain world—war in Ireland, foreign threats and the growing assertion of state control at home. The economy was volatile, shaped by inflation, unemployment and food shortages from poor harvests. The climate contributed to this crisis—Europe was in the grip of what we now call the “Little Ice Age,” a period of cooling temperatures that led to failed crops, widespread hunger and social unrest.

The Forest of Arden, often seen as a pastoral retreat to modern audiences, was, in fact, a landscape under pressure. Its ancient woods were shrinking due to expanding farmland and industries, its open commons were increasingly enclosed, and its wilderness was no longer so wild. Wealthy landowners, like Orlando’s brother, Oliver, were charged with increasing crop yields to support a nation recovering from years of food shortages. Large estates were reorganized for efficiency, with a growing emphasis on maximizing production at the expense of traditional ways of life. Common grazing land was fenced off, small farmers were displaced and tensions simmered between those who controlled the land and those who worked it. Thus, the Forest was more dangerous than we sometimes imagined. Shakespeare’s world was in transition and As You Like It reflects the tensions of that time.

Yet, the play transforms instabilities into new possibilities. A Duchess, exiled from court, seeks to create a community in the trees. A young woman, cast out from her home, finds freedom in disguise. Strangers form connections, lovers unite unexpectedly and imaginations flourish. And in the process, the world begins to reorder itself—not as it was, but an they might like it to be.”

And it concludes with:

“Perhaps that is why, more than 400 years after being written, As You Like It still speaks to us. It reminds us that in uncertainty, there is possibility; that in exile, there is transformation; and that in the act of making the world as we like it, we may find ourselves changed in ways we never expected.”

That sentiment by Abraham sums up why the three of us loved this play so much, in a time with Trump, tariffs, and constantly shifting policies, we too feel the uncertainty, and hope for that place of stability, community, and companionship. And the theatre community at Stratford provides that hope, and this play inspires it. This was another excellent production from the cast, crew and artistic team at the Stratford Festival. From 55 to 14 years of age it was hit with all three of us.

It is a great production that we highly recommend.

Note: Photos by David Hou/Stratford Festival, or our own.