THE COURT

All the world’s a stage in

ow in its fourth season, the Shakespeare Festival of St. Louis presents one of the Bard’s most popular romantic comedies, “As

You Like It.” Under the direction of Risa Brainin, the

show will run from Friday through June 20. (There are no performances on June 1, June 8 and June 17.)

“As You Like It” will be performed in the traditional location in Forest Park, just to the east of Art Hill. It’s a good idea to arrive early to find a place for your blanket or lawn chairs and, if you drive, to park your car.

Every Sunday night, the St. Louis Regional Bicycle Federation will offer free valet bike parking – a good incentive to let the night provide exercise for the body as well as the imagination.

Starting at 7 p.m, there’s a “Green Show,” a short, easy-to-follow version of

the play. You can also enjoy plenty of other preshow activities – dancing, juggling, lectures on Shakespeare, you name it – before the show starts at 8.

A preshow picnic’s always fun. You can buy food at the festival or bring your own meal.

Save time for shopping at the souvenir booth, where this year’s goodies include the “All the World’s a Stage” puzzle with characters from every Shakespeare play and the Will Shakespeare action figure with removable quill pen.

The show is free (although donations are welcome). If you’d like more information, call the festival office at 314-361-0101.

But if you’d like to know what the play’s about, look no further. The accompanying

in Act 2, “all the world

Rosalind and Celia live at

They’re first cousins.

Rosalind’

court. Things were

Celia’s father, kicked him out and took over.

Court life isn’t what it used to be. It’s hard to

enjoy yourself.

How about a wrestling match? Charles, a famous

wrestler, will fight anybody. Handsome

young Orlando can’t wait for his turn. He’s got

nothing to lose. His older brother, Oliver, treats him

like an animal. Or worse! Oliver tells Charles to break

Orlando’

in love they don’

’t hear of it. She’

’ll dress like a boy, for

a country girl. That will

Pretty soon

Arden’

They’d probably all like to live in the woods, but

they won’t. Duke Frederick talked to a priest who

persuaded him to change his ways. Now he’s sorry about everything and returns the crown to his brother, Duke Senior. They’ll all go back to court, a happy place once more. But they’ll remember Arden.

Who needs a priest! The god of marriage, Hymen, shows up to

– and finds out who

’s going to be a big

Ganymede promises

give him – er, her! – 24 hours.

Arden!

Duke Senior and his friends live

in the Forest of Arden, as happy as

Robin Hood’s band of merry men –

except for Jaques. But nothing ever

– that’s

” whe

re

– but Celia ’re in

’s

When Oliver fell asleep in the forest, a wild animal tried to eat him. But Orlando saw what was happening and saved Oliver – even

though he recognized him!

Oliver explains that Frederick blamed him for Celia’s

disappearance. That meant that Oliver had to run away. Off to Arden!

Rosalind, still pretending to be a boy, keeps running her

love school for Orlando. One day Orlando is late to

2

N

1

1

1

4

3

2

1

3

4

5

1

2

3

4

5

6

THE DE BOYS FAMILY

SIMPLE COUNTRY FOLK

ARDEN FOREST EXILES

THE ROYALCOURT

ACT ONE

ACT TWO

ACT THREE

ACT FOUR

ACT FIVE

FREDERICK

ROSALIND

CELIA

ORLANDO

WILLIAMJAQUES

DUKE SENIOR

AUDREY

PHEBE SILVIUS

OLIVER

ADAM

CHARLES

LANDO

ROZ

KEY

Character wears a disguise for part of the play

Connects two characters who fall in love

One character loves another, but the feelings aren’t mutual

Character starts out evil, but becomes good

Text by JUDITH NEWMARK, graphic by JOHN D. TELFORD / POST-DISPATCH

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“AS YOULIKE IT”

For a look at the improvementsin Forest Park, see the SundayEveryday section.