As You Like It

In the start of the play, we are present with two brothers of late Sir Rowland. The older of the two brother, Oliver, does not allow Orlando, the younger brother, to receive a proper education. Rosalind, daughter of Duke Senior, is best friends with Celia, daughter of Duke Frederick. Rosalind and Celia both left to the Forest disguised. It is revealed that the two Dukes had a conflict. Duke Frederick won the conflict and accused Rosalind of treason. Orlando lost a wrestle match with Charles and Rosalind fell in love with Orlando during the match. Adam, Orlando's old servant, told Orlando the evil scheme that Oliver conjured. Orlando and Adam both left to the Forest also. In the Forest, the disguised Rosalind meet with Orlando, who expressed his passionate love to the disguised Rosalind. The disguised Rosalind told Orlando to pretend that "he" (Rosalind) as Rosalind. The disguised Rosalind also ran into Silvius, who's is in love with Phebe, and Phebe, who doesn't love Silvius and eventually fall in love with the disguised Rosalind. One day Rosalind run into Oliver, whom informs Rosalind that Orlando is badly wounded by a lion that was trying to harm Oliver. In the end Rosalind revealed her true identity and everyone get to be happily married.

Rosalind is the daughter of the Duke Senior and is cousins with her best friend, Celia. She is smart and loving. These qualities made Rosalind in the heroine of the play. Orlando is the youngest son Sir Rowland. Although Orlando and Oliver have conflicts but Orlando have forgiven Oliver and even saved him from a lion.  Both Orlando and Rosalind love each other very much. In the beginning, both of them wear very similar clothing style, which is black jacket and dark color clothing. This dark color represent the connection to the society that they originated. Rosalind later, in the Forest, changed her outfit in to a brighter color, while Orlando remain to wear dark and neutral color clothing. This difference in color conveys to the audience that Rosalind is in disguise. Also the difference in the color between Rosalind and Orlando is that Rosalind have completely disconnected with the old society while Orlando is still connected. This color coding have been consistent throughout the play and the characters. Duke Senior and Duke Frederick are brothers. But Duke Frederick decided to rebel against Duke Senior. Duke Senior and Duke Frederick is played by the same actor, yet the costume shows the chance of characters. Duke Senior wear clothing with vivid colors. While Duke Frederick wear very black and dark colored clothing. Every characters are differentiated by the colors. Take the characters, Silvius and Phebe as an example. They were only seen wearing vivid colored clothing throughout the play. Since the setting changed from kingdom to the Forest, almost all the characters wore bright colored clothing. Therefore, through the use of colors, the audience can assume that Silvius and Phebe are not part of the kingdom. Patterns in the characters clothing play an important function as well. Rosalind's disguise is very neat and crisp. While Celia disguise consisted of a frilly shirt with consistent patterns. The difference in style of clothing reflects the characteristics of the characters. Rosalind is resolved and autonomous, taking matters into her own hands. Celia leads her life by passion. She risks everything when she decided to run away with Rosalind. Compared to Celia, Rosalind is more clear headed. Coats also show to the audience of character development in the play. Oliver is an example. In the beginning, he is shown wearing a very big dark coat and is depicted to be very bad person. Likewise, Duke Frederick is also seen to be wearing a very big and dark coat and thereby conveyed to the audience his ill deeds. But over the course of the play, we see that Oliver lose the coat and have changed into a loving and caring person.

The set of the play is in modern times. The characters utilizes social media to express their thoughts and emotions. Rosalind and Oliver are two of many other character that can be seen to post things on Twitter, which is only popular about 5 years ago. The lighting play an important role in telling the setting of the play. During the beginning, when the play starts off in the kingdom, the light is very sharp. The character’s shadows is be easily differentiated between the person’s body. This provide high tension for the play. Once the plot have shifted into the forest, the light produced a softer and yellow effects. This is to imitate the feeling of sunlight. One thing that explicitly shows the audience the change from the kingdom to the forest is shadows. On the left side, the board produced a clear shadow of a tree. The bright colored board contrast and highlight the shadow of the trees, allowing a more visible shadow. The two boards have an important function. The designers used the board help tell the story. During the wresting match between Charles and Orlando, a representation of the match is projected on to the board rather than having the character physically fight in front of the audience. The board also project the contents in the phone so that the audience can read the Tweets rather having the characters just read to the audience. This creates a closer relationship between the audience and the characters. Finally, the boards provide a spatial relation for the audience to visual and thereby the set became dimensional. The play use sounds, specifically songs to transition between acts. In total, four songs were performed by the actors. At the end of each song, a different character development occur, pushing the plot further.