Shakespeare in the Park

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In Shakespeare's As You Like It we celebrate in the pastoral mode and debate the worthiness of country versus court. Not one, but four couples couple in this 1599 romantic comedy set in the Forest of Arden. Rosalind dressed as the young boy Ganymede teaches Orlando, the man she loves, how to woo her appropriately. Rosalind's cousin, Celia, falls in love at first sight with Orlando's evil brother, Oliver, who has been transformed in Arden. Touchstone, the professional fool, finds the ugly goatherd, Audrey, in Arden, and marries her because no one else would. We also meet the conventional pastoral lovers: the unrequited Silvius, and Phebe who falls in love, unwittingly, with Rosalind (in disguise) and then agrees to settle for Silvius. These antics are set off by the melancholic cynic, Jaques; feuding brothers, Duke Frederick and Duke Senior; a wrestling match; a fertility dance; and some of the best songs in any Shakespeare play.