AS YOU LIKE IT | 19 - 31 JULY

Essential Surrey

Londontheatre1.com

"A joyous gem of a show" British Theatre Guide

We know some of you may not have been able to make it to the Forest of Arden, or perhaps not felt confident enough to do so, so we're making the live recording available for you to watch from home!

Filmed in front of a live audience on location, you can now enjoy As You Like It from your sofa every evening from 7.30pm, with 2.30pm matinees on Sundays, from 05 August.

Tickets are just £25 and up to 4 people can watch a single device.

Once you have purchased your ticket you will receive the link and a special log in code.

AYLI online programme

Read our FAQs to learn how best to watch this recording

ABOUT

"Do you not know I am a woman? When I think, I must speak!"

It's been eight years since GSC took you into the Forest of Arden... and we can't wait to go back!

AS YOU LIKE IT is Shakespeare's gloriously sunny comedy: a celebration of human nature’s desire to forgive and forget, to love and to laugh.

To escape the tyrannous Duke Frederick’s reign, Rosalind escapes with her cousin and a cheeky jester into the Forest of Arden, a playground of hopes and dreams. Away from the stifling court, this merry trio discover that the outdoors have more to offer than just refuge, and where freedom of thought liberates, so too can romance flourish for each and every one.

We're very excited to be taking you back to Racks Close, the former chalk quarry in the heart of the town - an luscious oasis of green that has played host to Robin Hood (2018) and A Midsummer Night's Dream (2017).

The fabulous CAROLINE DEVLIN directs, following her feel-good triumph with The Merry Wives of Windsor in 2019.

Featuring the most dazzling female character in the canon, and containing some of the best-known lines in Shakespeare, AS YOU LIKE IT is full of beautiful songs, enchanting characters and a fabulous feel-good story.

PICNICS - please note:

  • For this year, due to the pressured conditions that our staff and volunteer stewards are working under, we have made the difficult decision not to allow picnics in the grounds of Racks Close. This is to help our staff make the event as manageable as possible, whilst also ensuring the safety and comfort of all patrons.
  • Should you wish to picnic in other parts of the Castle Gardens or other green spaces, you may do so at your own discretion and we request that you follow whatever guidance is in place at the time for the general public.

PLEASE NOTE: The performance will take place in two different spaces in Racks Close. Distanced seating will be allocated in both areas.

Take a peek inside the rehearsal room!

 

Welcome to the Forest of Arden - browse all our production photos!

COMPANY

Full biographies will be featured in the 32-page Souvenir Programme

HILDEGARD NEIL & ROSALIND BLESSED are the voice of the goddess Hymen


NATASHA RICKMAN - Rosalind

For GSC: Loves Labours Lost, Thy Eternal Summer, All That Glisters

Trained: RADA.

Theatre includes:  Ready Or Not (Arcola Theatre/Tour); King Lear, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Hamlet, Grimm Tales, The Snow Queen (Creation Theatre); The Picture of Dorian Gray (English Theatre of Frankfurt); The Mousetrap (West End); Roots (Nottingham Playhouse and tour); Romeo and Juliet, Joan of Arc, Dogs Dialogue, The Talented Mr Ripley: [OffWestEnd Award-nominated for Best Supporting Actress] (The Faction); Julius Caesar, Iph (Mercury Theatre); Relatively Speaking, Within the Gates (Frinton Summer Theatre); Suitcase Stories (Sell A Door, United Arab Emirates Tour); Much Ado About Nothing, Canterbury Tales (Cunard).

Radio includes:Selling Shoes in Southend (Frequency Theatre).

Natasha is co-founder of Women at RADA, an initiative campaigning for gender equality in theatre. She is also a core ensemble member with The Faction and artistic associate at Jermyn Street Theatre.


RACHEL SUMMERS - Celia

Trained: Royal Central School of Speech & Drama and ALRA

Theatre includes: Lise in The Boss Of It All (Soho Theatre), Desiree in Upstart Crow (Gielguld Theatre), Novice in Trade (Tour with New Perspectives Theatre), Mother/Coco in Conundrum (Arcola Theatre), Madam Irina/Debbie in This Island`s Mine (King’s Head Theatre), Melanie in Dare To Dare (The Space Theatre), Madame Tricastin in Til We Meet in England (Peckham Safehouse), Femi in The Sun, The Moon and The Stars (Yard Theatre) Belle in Flush (Matchstick Theatre), Alison in Mastering Business (Stockwell Playhouse) Zohra in Don Quixote in Algiers (White Bear Theatre), Third Witch in Macbeth (Cockpit Theatre), Dot in Far From Fiction (Lion and Unicorn Theatre), Virginia in Papa’s Bathtub Gin (Rosemary Branch Theatre), Muse in A Novel Approach - Bookends (Etcetera Theatre).

TV includes: Katherine Cousens in HBO series, The Nevers

Film includes: Keisha in Calloused Hands


SARAH GOBRAN - Frederick / Phebe / Jaques

Sarah trained at GSA and is a co-founder and joint producer of Guildford Shakespeare Company. To date she has played Beatrice, Adriana, Hermione, Katherina, Regan, Gwendolyn, Mistress Ford, Maria, Titania, Nerissa, Lady Capulet, Luciana, Silvia, Phebe, the Princess of France as well as a fine line in woodland and farmyard animals including a fox, a shrew and a sheep. Sarah set up and ran the Education Department of GSC before handing it over to Head of Education, Ant Stones in 2014.

Other Theatre credits include: Peter Pan (Proteus Theatre); Sugar Daddies (Stephen Joseph Theatre/Yvonne Arnaud Theatre); Far From the Madding Crowd (The Phoenix Theatre); Gulliver’s Travels (Sutton Theatres); Desires of Frankenstein (Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre); Just William (Charles Cryer Theatre).


JAMES SHELDON - Orlando

For GSC: Macbeth (Education Film); Thy Eternal Summer

Theatre includes: Lockwood in Michael Oakley’s Wuthering Heights (Oxford Shakespeare Company); Adolf in Tom Littler’s Creditors (Jermyn Street Theatre/Theatre By The Lake); Dumaine/Holofernes in Tom Littler’s Loves Labour’s Lost (Guildford Shakespeare Company); Little John in Richard Neale’s Robin Hood (Guildford Shakespeare Company); Jean in Tom Littler’s Miss Julie (The Jermyn Street Theatre/Theatre By The Lake) 2017/2019; Dr Banner/Lawrence in Phillip Wilson’s After the Dance by Terrence Rattigan (Theatre By The Lake); Andy in Brian Martin’s Align (Theatre 503); Nicholas in A.A. Milne's The Dover Road (Jermyn Street Theatre);  Tom Wingfield in Tennessee Williams’ The Glass Menagerie and Charles Bruno in Patricia Highsmith's Strangers on a Train (English Theatre Frankfurt); Soranzo in John Ford’s ‘Tis Pity She’s A Whore; Willy Wax in Clifford Odets’ Rocket to the Moon; Henry VIII in Howard Brenton’s Anne Boleyn; Uncle in Lawrence Till’s Perfect Boy.


TOM RICHARDSON - Silvius / Oliver

Trained: The Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art.

For GSC: Twelfth Night, The Merry Wives of Windsor

During this last year Tom played Tweedledum & Tweedledee in Alice: A Virtual Theme Park (ONCOMM Best Digital Platform based production) for Creation Theatre/Big Telly

Theatre includes: The Prince & The Pauper (New Vic Theatre); Lady Chatterley’s Lover (Churchill Theatre Bromley & UK tour); Julius Caesar, A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Storyhouse, Chester); Jeeves & Wooster in Perfect Nonsense, Sense & Sensibility, Single Spies, Dial ‘M’ For Murder, The Rivals (Theatre by the Lake, Keswick); Elton John’s Glasses (Watford Palace Theatre); A Christmas Carol, Treasure Island, The Wind in The Willows (Creation Theatre); The Merry Wives of Windsor, Romeo & Juliet, The Wind in The Willows, Macbeth and The Comedy of Errors (Chester Performs); Twelfth Night: A Gender Experiment (The Rose Playhouse); The White Carnation (The Finborough/Jermyn Street Theatre); Roots (Nottingham Playhouse/Hull Truck/New Vic); The Winter’s Tale, The Rivals, The Grapes of Wrath, Arsenic and Old Lace (The Mercury Theatre Colchester); The Mousetrap (SE Asia Tour and West End); Dad’s Army: The Lost Episodes and Dad’s Army Marches On (UK No. 1 Tours).


COREY MONTAGUE-SHOLAY - Amiens / Le Beau / Audrey

Trained: Bristol Old Vic Theatre School.

Theatre includes: The Whip, King John (RSC); This Island’s Mine (King’s Head Theatre); Henry V (Shakespeare at the Tobacco Factory); A Christmas Carol, The Pied Piper (Redbridge Drama Centre); The Enchanted (Bunker Theatre); Normal (Rift Theatre/Styx); Snow White (Sixteenfeet Productions); The Hotel Cerise (Theatre Royal Stratford East); Little Revolution, ICU (Almeida Theatre); Carpe Diem (National Theatre).

Film includes: Callum, Our Night, Home, Angry Face.


ROBERT MASKELL - Duke Senor / Corin

For GSC: Alice in Wonderland (2018), Love’s Labour’s Lost, Robin Hood (2018), Richard III (2012) and Macbeth (2013).  

Theatre includes: Fiddler on the Roof (Menier Chocolate Factory & The Playhouse); La Cage aux Folles (The Playhouse); The Sound of Music (The Palladium); End of the Rainbow (UK Tour); For Services Rendered (Union Theatre); Someone Who'll Watch Over Me (Broadway Studio); Henry IV Parts 1&2 (Forty Hall Open Air Theatre);James and the Giant Peach; Daisy Pulls It Off(The Watermill); A Man of No Importance(Salisbury Playhouse); Blind Eye, Compliance (Theatre 503); Twelfth Night (Iris Theatre); Bar Mitzvah Boy (Upstairs at the Gatehouse); White Witch (The Chelsea Theatre); Eleanor Marx the Jewess of Jew’s Walk (Upstairs at The Sydenham Centre)  

Film includes: TheTherapist(RSA Films); Farming (Farming the Film Ltd.);A Simple Man (Wychwood Films).  

TV includes:London: The Greatest City (Channel 4); Eroica (BBC). 

Radio includes:Orley Farm, Rudolpho's Zest, Together (all BBC).  

As a French horn player, Robert spent 10 years with The Philharmonia. 


MATT PINCHES - Touchstone / Adam

Trained: Bretton Hall. Co-Founder of GSC, appearing in over 35 productions.

Matt has been working in theatre for over 20 years, from panto to TIE, from national No.1 tours to village halls. He established GSC with Sarah in 2006, and is extremely proud of the journey they, GSC and their audiences have been on. During this time, Matt has had the privilege of playing many dream parts, including: Benedick (Much Ado); Toad (Wind in the Willows), Edgar (King Lear), Malvolio (Twelfth Night), Cassio (Othello), Touchstone (As You Like It), Bottom (Dream), Laertes (Hamlet). Matt is responsible for marketing, web development and sponsorship, and alongside Sarah, the theatre company’s overall development and strategy. He has recently rediscovered his love for rugby and now that he has a garden, is becoming a bit of a twitcher. Matt is a member of the Surrey Chamber of Commerce Council and sits on the Public Art Advisory Group for Guildford Borough.


 

ARTISTIC TEAM

Director & Adaptor - CAROLINE DEVLIN

Set & Costume Designer - NEIL IRISH

Sound Designer & Composer - MATT EATON

Choreographer - CHARLOTTE CONQUEST

Fight Director - ROGER BARTLETT

Assistant Director - INDIANA LOWN-COLLINS

Assistant Designer - ANETT BLACK

Company Stage Manager - BETH MANN

Deputy Stage Manager - CJ MITCHELL

Assistant Stage Manager - KIM MUNROE

SEASON SUPPORTERS

CHARLES RUSSELL SPEECHLYS (Principal Sponsor)
PROJECT FIVE (22 July)
BULLIMORES (23 July)
SURREY CHAMBERS OF COMMERCE (26 July)
HJP FINANCIAL (28 July)

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