As You Like It

The Bridge Project

The Old Vic welcomes the return of The Bridge Project for a second year with Sam Mendes directing Shakespeare’s pastoral comedy As You Like It and his late masterpiece The Tempest.

As You Like It follows its heroine Rosalind as she flees persecution in her uncle's court, accompanied by her cousin Celia and Touchstone, the court jester, to find safety and eventually love in the Forest of Arden. The play features one of Shakespeare's most famous speeches, “All the world’s a stage” and is the origin of the phrase "too much of a good thing."

The Tempest tells the story of banished sorcerer Prospero, rightful Duke of Milan, who initially uses his magical powers to punish his enemies when he raises a tempest that drives them ashore. The entire play is set on an island under Prospero’s control, whose native inhabitants, Ariel and Caliban, respectively aid or hinder his work

The transatlantic line-up includes Michaelle Back, Christian Camargo, Ron Cephas Jones, Stephen Dillane, Juliet Rylance and Thomas Sadoski.