The Curate Shakespeare As You Like It

This book is a study of As You Like It , which shows how the play represents issues of interest to literate playgoers of its time, as well as speculatively to Shakespeare himself.

The New Cambridge Shakespeare appeals to students worldwide for its up-to-date scholarship and emphasis on performance. The series features line-by-line commentaries and textual notes on the plays and poems. Introductions are regularly refreshed with accounts of new critical, stage and screen interpretations. In his Introduction to this second edition of As You Like It, its editor, Michael Hattaway accounts for what makes this popular play both innocent and dangerous. In performance it can appear bright or sombre: a feast of language and a delight for comic actors, or a risk-taking exploration of gender roles. This edition includes a new section on recent critical interpretations and dramatic productions of the play as well as an appendix on an early court performance of As You Like It in 1599. Commentary on the play's language, an updated reading list and an account of the play in performance are also included.