In which Timothy starred as Oliver, the eldest son to Sir Rowland de Boys.

Cover of actual Vaudeville Theatre Playbill from 1967.

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What Shall I Do With My Doublet And Hose - Written by the Director Peter Dews.

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It is always assumed when a production of one of Shakespeare's best-known plays is done in a non-Elizabethan setting, that the Director, having no faith in the text, has had to resort to cheap devices to enliven the proceedings. Let me say at once that my cast and I have fallen completely under the play's spell, and that even had I wished to play ducks and drakes with As You Like It, the cast would have prevented me. Most of them are bigger then I am. So there was no question of introducing telephones, bus stops or mention of Woolworths, even if I had wanted to and I vowed whenever I had the good fortune to direct the play, I would feel free to abandon doublet, hose, Dr. Arne and all attendant "Hey nonny" - ing. Unless the play is obviously and specifically historical, Shakespeare's work can be, is, and should be, capable of transposition to another period. Otherwise, what of the lip service we all pay to the "Not-of-an Age-but-for-All-Time" quotation, especially around St. George's Day? If the acting is true to the author, and the setting is attractive and evocative, I don't think it matters greatly in what period the play is presented. Beauty of sound and beauty of sight set their own standards.

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In bringing the setting nearer our own time, Pamela Howard and I have tried to avoid being too precise about the period into which we have moved it. In this we have the warranty of the Author. He has given us at one moment, French Dukes, names like Le Beau and Jaques de Boys - eminently Gallic - and at another William, Audrey and Sir Oliver Mar-text. He mixes them so completely that it would be a brave man who could lay down the law as to whether the forest were of Aden of Ardennes. For me, As You Like It is no more French then 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' is, Athenian or 'Twelfth Night' Illyrian. It is Here and Now, Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow. It is, after all, a play about Love, about the Weather, about Brothers Divided and Reconciled, and Urbs in Rure, about Structure of Society. Could any five themes be more up to date?

The above taken from The Vaudeville Theatre Playbill written by Director Peter Dews © Copyright 1967 All Rights Reserved.

Summary of William Shakespeare's - As You Like It.

Orlando de Boys has been left a mere thousand crowns in his father's will, the bulk of the estate having gone to Orlando's eldest brother, Oliver. But Oliver withholds the money from Orlando, and also refuses to provide him with the education suitable for a gentleman, despite their father's last instructions. Orlando quarrels with Oliver, and demands his thousand crowns. Oliver plans to get rid of him by having him killed in a wrestling match, which takes place before Duke Frederick and his court. Orlando, however, defeats the professional wrestler who has been incited to kill him. Adam, an old family servant, warns Orlando not to return to Oliver's house, since Oliver is planning his murder. Adam offers Orlando his life's savings, and the two of them go off to seek their fortune elsewhere.

At the wrestling, Orlando had met two princesses: Celia, Duke Frederick's daughter, and Rosalind, his niece, Orlando and Rosalind had been deeply attracted to one another. Rosalind is the daughter of the former Duke, Duke Senior, who had been deposed some years previously by his younger brother Frederick, and who is now living with some of his followers in the Forrest of Arden: Rosalind dresses as a boy, and takes the name of Ganymede, while Celia dresses as a girl of humble rank and takes the name of of Aliena; they persuade Duke Frederick's fool, Touchstone, to accompany them. When their disappearance is discovered, Duke Frederick suspects that they have gone off with Orlando; he questions Oliver, seizes his estate, and instructs him to find Orlando and bring him back within a year.

In the Forest of Arden, Duke Senior and his followers are leading a contented pastoral life. One of his followers is Jaques, who affects melancholy and makes satirical comments on everything. Orlando and Adam arrive in Arden, and join the Duke and his followers. Celia, Rosalind, and Touchstone also arrive in Arden; Celia buys a sheep-farm, and they live there. There are various encounters of wit between Touchstone and Jaques, Orlando and Jaques, and others. Orlando hangs poems in praise of Rosalind on trees in the forest. Rosalind and Celia (still in disguise) meet him; Rosalind/Ganymede undertakes to cure him of his love: he must pretend that Ganymede is his love Rosalind, and woo him under her name; Ganymede will respond like a fickle and capricious woman, and so bring Orlando to his senses. Orlando, who just wants to think and talk about Rosalind, agrees to do this. Silvius, a young shepherd, loves Phebe, a shepherdess, but she scorns him; Rosalind/Ganymede rebukes her for her unkindness, whereupon Phebe falls in love with her. Touchstone woos a country girl, Audrey, and discomfits her rustic lover.

Oliver arrives in the forest, looking for Orlando. Orlando saves him from a lioness, and is wounded in doing so. This brings about a change of heart in Oliver, who repents of his previous evil deeds and is reconciled to Orlando. Oliver and Celia fall in love at first sight, and agree to get married. Rosalind and Celia assemble all the prospective couples, and reveal their true identity. The Duke agrees that Rosalind shall marry Orlando; Phebe agrees to marry Silvius; Oliver is to marry Celia; and Touchstone is to marry Audrey. Another brother of Orlando and Oliver arrives to report that Duke Frederick had mounted a military expedition against the exiles in the Forest of Arden; at the edge of the forest, however, he had met an old religious man and undergone a religious conversion; he had renounced the world, given the dukedom back to his brother, and restored the lands of those who were in exile with him. There is a general festivity. In an epilogue, Rosalind asks for the audience's indulgence for the play.

Summary - As You Like It © Copyright York Notes by Charles Barber MA (Cambridge) PH D (Gothenburg) - Longman Literature Guides, Longman York Press 1992 All Rights Reserved.