Bell Shakespeare’s As You Like It

By Benjamen Judd

We here at QT are all for classics with a modern twist (have you seen our rooms?) so we can’t really recommend As You Like It – the latest production by Bell Shakespeare and currently showing at the Sydney Opera House – enough.

Considering the rather fascinating debates on identity and gender roles in current cultural discussions, As You Like It is a love story that remains surprisingly modern.

While staying true to Shakespeare’s own obsession with ‘love at first sight’ narratives, the play covers a more nuanced ground than his other romantic comedies.

Cross-dressing, the idea that love knows no boundary (such as gender), and even early stage feminist discourses through the protagonist Rosalind, who many say is Shakespeare’s most realised female character.

With a stellar cast including Zahra Newman as Rosalind, Emily Eskell as Phebe and John Bell as Jacques, Bell Shakespeare’s latest take on a much loved classic is a definite must-see.

Bell Shakespeare’s As You Like It is now showing at the Sydney Opera House until 28 March.