As you look through the images and photographs from past productions of As You Like It, think about:

• How the contrasting worlds of the court and the forest have been shown in different productions. Designers often use certain colours and fabrics to suggest a more colourful and free world of the forest compared to a darker, more restricted court environment. How true is this of the 2013 production and the 2019 production?
• How the freedom of the forest has been shown on stage. In the 2013 production, for example, director Maria Aberg was inspired by summer festivals, like Glastonbury, comparing the adventure of festival-going to the journeys of self discovery the characters make in the play. How effective do you think this more modern design is?
• How differently Celia and Rosalind would be dressed at court, compared with how we see them in the forest. Are their court clothes more restrictive or formal?
• How the banished Duke and his followers have changed visibly during their lives in the forest. Would they still have remnants of their court clothes, or would they be fully dressed with materials from the forest?

How would you choose to stage these settings and what choices would you make to help show the function of the court and give the audience a sense of what might happen there? It might help to take another look at Act 1 Scene 3 in performance in the Key Scenes section to see how one production looked at the world of the court.

As you look through the images and videos from past productions of As You Like It, think about:

• How the different interpretations of Ganymede come across and how have they changed over time. How important is it that Rosalind’s disguise be believable? Is she recognisable and does her motivation for disguising herself come across?
• What has the designer done to make Rosalind's disguise masculine, but retain her identity? In the text Rosalind and Celia refer to 'arming' themselves as they go into the forest of Arden in order to protect themselves, and you can see this in the leather clothes Ganymede wears in the 2019 production. How else does this mentality come across in the different productions?
• From the videos, what do you notice about the voice, movement and body language of Ganymede in the two productions? What choices would you make for this character, if you were directing?

As you look through the images from past productions of As You Like It, think about:

• How Touchstone has been presented. How clear is it that he is a ‘fool’? He is disguised just like the two women, Celia and Rosalind, but how has he been shown to be a comic character?
• In this scene with Corin, how are the two characters contrasted and how does their relationship come across? How out of place is Touchstone in Corin’s world of the forest and how can you tell?

As you look through the images from past productions of As You Like It, think about:

• The design of the court and how the wrestling match fits into that world. The wrestling seems to be the way in which the people at court ‘let loose’ and have fun. How has the sport been represented, does it seem entertaining or more brutal? How are the crowds reacting to the match? How often do you think they get to enjoy themselves and sport? What does this form of entertainment tell you about the court and about Duke Frederick?
• The way Charles the Wrestler is presented. Charles the Wrestler is famous in the court and is the champion of Duke Frederick; how has the designer conveyed this? Is it clear that he is more experienced than Orlando and who would you expect to win in this contest? How important is it that the audience understand Orlando is the underdog and how do productions try to demonstrate this?
• How Orlando comes across in these images. He is often shown as being a desperate young man, who comes to the match not expecting to win. In the 2013 production director Maria Aberg talked about this image as being like David and Goliath, that the sport of watching their champion brought something out of the usually restrained court audience. How has this been shown and does this differ from other productions’ choices?