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Dustin Luca
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SALEM, MASS. – Are you seeking comedy and laughter? Does an escape into the melancholy of the forest sound like just what the doctor ordered? Salem State University has just the show for you.
Later this month, Salem State’s theatre department in conjunction with the Center for Creative and Performing Arts will present As You Like It, a lesser-known comedy from William Shakespeare remembered for its pastoral jabs and the king of the bard’s meta moments: the famous “All the world’s a stage” monologue. The production will play in the Sophia Gordon Center for the final two weekends of April, with a free Salem Night scheduled for Friday, April 25.
The play, believed to have been written around 1599, was originally written in response to a popular subgenre of theatre at the time: the pastoral play, where the simple life of the countryside would be depicted alongside the complexity of city life. As You Like It, as a pastoral comedy, represents a riff on that subgenre akin to how Scary Movie was a response to the Scream series of horror movies.
With the play’s setting enhanced by modern tropes like Limp Bizkit and WWE, it’s the modernized setting casting the 1599 work into the contemporary era that’s likely to trigger the most conversation once the curtain falls and the audience returns to reality.
The rigid control of the Court of Duke Frederick and his associates will be depicted as a highly charged, oppressive space—one that embodies the political and cultural atmosphere of a populist, authoritarian and toxic masculine regime. The forest of Arden, in contrast, will be an open, fluid space, representing a sanctuary from the rigid confines of the court—where individual freedoms, love, and the power of self-expression can flourish.
“Placing the production in a more contemporary vein will hopefully make it a little more recognizable, that it isn’t just a play about people being silly in the woods,” said director and Salem State visiting lecturer Esme Allen. “At the heart of this production is people escaping a very sudden oppression and finding peace for a short time, and then very quickly leaving it.”
As You Like It will play in the Sophia Gordon Center, 356 Lafayette St., across two weekends:
- Friday, April 18 and Saturday, April 19, at 7:30 pm;
- Friday, April 25 and Saturday, April 26, at 7:30 pm; and
- Sunday, April 27, at 2 pm.
Tickets are $15 for general admission, $10 for seniors, and free for all students with a student ID and those under 18. Admission is free for all current Salem State students, faculty, and staff across all showings, and for Salem residents the night of Friday, April 25 (show ID at the door for admission).
For more information, please visit the As You Like It event page. For tickets, please visit the Salem State University Ticket Office.
