As You Like ItRole: Director

By Umar Syed

Script Selection

• Although professionals choose scripts or are “matched” by producers, non-professional directors pick what they like

• As a non-professional director, I picked As You Like It because I liked certain elements, mainly the spectacle (pastoral) and characters (Rosalind), and enjoyed the overall action of the play.

• Furthermore, As You Like It has a rich theatrical and literary history from which my own directorial concept can draw upon

Script Selection

• As You Like It by William Shakespeare• A pastoral comedy• “Pastoral”- Forest of Arden is a place of

“pastoral idealization”, it represents an idealized place where life is simple and the people co-exist in harmony with one another

• “comedy”- light-hearted play that ends with a happy ending

Pastoral Landscape by Alvan Fisher (1854)

“Georgics Book III”, Shepherd with Flocks, by Vergil (29 B.C.)

EXAMPLES OF OTHER PASTORAL WORKS

Casting

• Casting for As You Like It means finding actors and actresses that fit the role, and they must satisfy 3 categories

-acting ability-actor’s personality fits character’s personality-actor matches character physically and vocally

Casting: Rosalind• Primary protagonist- personality is

confident, charismatic, witty, strong-willed, independent, kind-hearted, resourceful

• Physically, the actress’s appearance must reflect Rosalind’s personality. Basically, she should be young, pretty, energetic, and dominating with lots of stage presence.

• The audience must be able to relate to her, as she is the driving force behind many of the events in the play

• She dresses up as a boy, Ganymede, for part of the play, and the actress must be able to play multiple roles

ROSALIND, AS YOU LIKE IT , O'Neill Henry Nelson (oil on panel, 1856)

Option 1:Olivia Wilde- young, pretty, has shown her ability to act as a dominant female figure in Cowboys & Aliens (2011), In Time (2011), and Rush (2013)

Option 2: Keira Knightley- shown her ability to act as a dominant female figure in Pirates of the Carribean series (2003-2007)

Option 3: Anne Hatheway- charming, witty, has shown her ability to act as a dominant female figure in the Devil Wears Prada (2006), Les Miserables (2012)

Casting Options: Rosalind

Casting: Orlando

• Protagonist- Rosalind’s love interest and Oliver’s younger brother whom Oliver neglects and hates.

• Personality is gentlemanly, confident, heroic

• Appearance must reflect his personality, and he must appear attractive and strong

Joseph Haworth as Orlando in As You Like It (1878)

Option 1: Orlando Bloom- young, pretty, has shown his ability to act as a dominant male figure in Pirates of the Carribean series (2003-2007), and Lord of the Rings (2001)

Option 2: Bradley Cooper- handsome, powerful, and shown his ability to act as a hero in the A-Team(2010) and the Silver Linings Playbook (2012).

Casting Options: Orlando

Casting: Duke Senior

• Usurped by his brother Duke Frederick, lives in the Forest of Arden

• Appearance must reflect his personality, and he must appear liberated yet kind

Option 1: Robin Williams- funny, versatile, could easily be seen as the leader of a camp of exiled nobles. Showed his leadership ability and uniqueness in Good Will Hunting (1997) and Patch Adams (1998).

Casting Options: Duke Senior

Casting: Duke Frederick

• Antagonist- he usurped the throne from his brother, banished Rosalind, and forced Oliver to hunt Orlando.

• Appearance must reflect his personality, and he must appear nefarious and dastardly.

Option 1: Ian McKellen- versatile actor that has shown his ability to portray villians effectively (Lord of the Rings (2003-2007), X-Men (2000-2014).

Casting Options: Duke Frederick

Casting: Oliver de Boys

• Antagonist- He inherited Sir Rowland’s estate and treats Orlando horribly, plotting to have him killed at one point.

• Appearance must reflect his personality, and he must appear conniving and murderous.

Option 1: Michael Fassbender- excellently portrayed a clever, murderous villian in Inglorious Basterds (2009).

Casting Options: Oliver de Boys

Casting: Touchstone the Jester

• Protagonist- personality is silly, foolish• Appearance must reflect his personality, and

he must appear ridiculous, and provide comic relief

• Option 1: Seth Rogen has Shown his ability to portrayComedic, goofy charactersWell (Pineapple Express 2008).

Casting: Silvius

• Silvius is constantly chasing Phebe and is very lovesick.

• Appearance must reflect his woman-chasing goals, averageness, and inability to attain Phebe.

• Option 1: Jonah Hill, becauseHe is average looking, and canPortray lovesickness humorously.

Casting: Phebe

• Phebe must be pretty yet cruel, since she constantly has to fend off Silvius’s advances.

Option 1: Megan Fox is both pretty and has the ability to play female characters that the audience does not necessarily love right away.

Other Casting Options

• Jaques de Boys: Enjoys being sad, a mopey character

• Option 1: Jay Baruchel has portrayed sad, mopey characters in She’s Out of My League (2010).

• Hymen: God of Marriage, officiates the marriage. Is a god, so well known actor can make a cameo.

• Option 1: Morgan Freeman, since he has an excellent voice and can probably officiate marriages well.

Themes

• The major theme of the play is love and marriage, and more specifically, that love evokes a range of emotions in those that it afflicts.

• Another theme is royal vs common life, or as a metaphor, city vs forest life. Whereas royal/city life is complex, confusing, and filled with conniving people, forest life is simpler and more pure.

• Another theme is how prone humans are to change. Orlando falls in love with Rosalind so quickly, just as Oliver likes Orlando based on a single event, and Frederick returns the throne to Senior after raising an army after a single event.

Spine

• The fundamental drama or conflict that motivates the play

• Arguably, As You Like It’s spine is to evaluate and find love (and incidentally, cure lovesickness).

• Evidence- The resolution of the play is that 4 couples get married, with one of the primary conflicts being that multiple people are lovesick. Love drives most of the action of many of the characters in As You Like It

Style• The style of the play should help illuminate the spine (which is to find love)• The play is a comedy, which ultimately has a happy ending (meaning

everyone looking for love finds it)• My directing style would be a negotiator, because as a comedy, the

chemistry and improvisation of my actors is necessary to make the love and lovesickness look realistic

• The theatrical style would be a mix between realist and expressionist, in order to convey the inner emotions of the characters more clearly. The ability to see lovesickness manifest itself outwardly, for example, would allow the play to resonate better with the audience. In order to show how love transforms people in many ways and how much of a driving force it is, it is necessary to be able to play with the spectacle and scenery of the forest (and the scenery of the forest must show how much simpler and purer it is, perhaps by making it extra pretty and perfect, in contrast to an overly dark and murky city). The realism is necessary to allow the audience to empathize and relate to the lovesickness of the characters, who are grounded in their very real emotions.

Directorial ConceptThis play is an ode to love. All throughout the play, love is seen as a

major driving force for various characters. Celia’s love for Rosalind causes her to flee with Rosalind to the Forest of Arden. The various love triangles, Silvius’s love for Phebe, Orlando’s love for Rosalind- the play is dominated by relationships. Everyone at the beginning of the play is lovesick and unhappy, and at the end, everyone is married and satisfied. To reflect this, the first few Acts (especially the scenes in the city) will be more dimly lit and have more monotone colors. The lovesick characters will be dressed in dreary, dark colors as well. This will reflect their mood.

Furthermore, the simplicity and beauty of forest life must also be reflected. Thus, the scenes in the city will be dark, cluttered, and messy. The scenes in the forest will be bright, colorful, and uplifting. This will help highlight the theme of country life being more pure and less deceitful

Lastly, the fact that it is a pastoral comedy means that the clothes of the sheperds should look simpler than the complex, stuffy clothes of the nobles. The comedy part is highlighted by the bright, happy colors of the forest.