“Abraham’s production amounts to two plays in one remarkable whole, with each half offering a radically different theatrical experience.

This As You Like It begins in a stark, militaristic winter — where a warehouse setting and prison camp atmosphere bring urgency and high stakes to Duke Frederick’s tyrannical rule…

The transformation to the Forest of Arden in the second act is nothing short of miraculous…

The production’s epilogue, delivered with knowing charm by Farb, becomes a meditation on the show’s duality itself, inviting audiences to embrace both the light and dark elements of the story—and by extension, of life itself. Her direct address to the audience feels less like Shakespeare’s traditional plea for approval and more like a provocative challenge: what will we make of these contrasting halves of the story?”

“As directed sharply and clearly by Chris Abraham, As You Like It finds something akin to a two-spirited approach to the worlds displayed and unpacked in this captivating act of conjuring…

It’s a beguiling contemplation between urban and rural, but also, in a way, a framework between the United States and Canada, with Canada representing a wooded safe retreat for forced-out exiles, rebels, and those who disagree with the undeserving new ruler of their homeland.

“Michael Man, late of the Shaw Festival, is splendid as the shepherd Silvius and his mastery of Shakespeare’s verse is flawless. As the heartless Phoebe, the object of his desires, Jessica B. Hill is comic quicksilver. Silvae Mercedes in her Stratford debut makes a deliciously slutty and uninhibited Audrey who hooks up with Touchstone….

Perhaps I should mention here that Seanna McKenna, the doyenne of the Stratford Festival company, having mastered all the major female roles in the canon, is now chipping away at the males roles. She has played Richard III, Julius Caesar, Lear, Shylock, and even Jaques. Here she becomes, not Duke Senior, but simply “The Duchess.”…

This is the third As You Like It I’ve seen at Stratford. Des MacAnuff’s surrealist take of 2010 and Jillian Keiley’s Newfie house party version of 2016 both fell short of bringing out the soul of Shakespeare’s play.

Despite my quibbles, Chris Abraham’s version is the best of the bunch and well worth seeing.

“Abraham makes clear that his version of “As You Like It” is more of a thriller than a carefree pastoral comedy…

Abraham’s darker — and bleaker — staging of the material offers his characters no paradisiac escape. For his audience, too, this “As You Like It,” or the first half of it, at least, is no bucolic entertainment.

Instead, his interpretation seems to underscore the show’s themes of finding strength — or love, in the case of Rosalind and Orlando — in the face of adversity. No one can truly escape his or her circumstances, Abraham suggests. But hell, as the saying goes, is what you ultimately make of it…

Still, even if Abraham’s macro vision somewhat misses the mark, there are rich rewards to be had in this staging.”

“Like most directors who have tackled this work, Abraham taps into the comedy of the play, the raunchy jokes and mistaken identities that prop up its second half. But what’s refreshing about this As You Like It is Abraham’s equal willingness to show the violence, grit and solitude of the Forest of Arden – the crushing weight of political exile…

As You Like It is a production of extremes, and Abraham’s cast, a veritable “greatest hits” of Stratford Festival actors and frequent Toronto players…

Farb, in particular, is wonderful – her crush on Orlando is touching and schmaltzy, and her scenes with Allen are laugh-out-loud funny. [Sara] Farb and [Makambe K.] Simamba have swell chemistry as the sister-close cousins, as well.”

“This dreamlike forest is a space of reinvention. And at the centre of this reinvention is Rosalind, played with luminous clarity by Sara Farb. Her performance anchors the production with emotional intelligence and buoyant joy at having escaped the court’s oppressive grip….

This is no utopia. It’s an ingenious reality stitched together from the scraps of capitalism, consumerism, and colonial inheritance. When Rosalind delivers the play’s famous epilogue, she entreats the audience to carry something of the story with them. In this version, it’s not just charm or comedy we’re asked to remember, but the possibility of joy rescued from the wreckage of modern society.”

“Chris Abraham has assembled a stellar cast to tell this story that brings lots of laughts as it explores themes of love at first sight, uncertainty, resilience, and transformation…

Making her Stratford debut as Celia, Makambe K. Simamba is a scene stealer. She and [Sara] Farb make an excellent duo and play well off of one another’s comedic moments…

Gabriel Antonacci plays guitar and sings beautifully as Amiens, and when Olivia Sinclair-Brisbane begins to harmonize with him, you almost want the play to pause for a little while so the intimate concert can continue!”

“The show takes a comedic deep dive courtesy of Steve Ross.

Always a master of physical comedy, his Touchstone character exuded a style of sexiness found attractive by perhaps only his love interest, and their inability to keep their hands off each other, or his clothes on, led to a memorable, almost Full Monty, love scene.”

“..it is Sara Farb as Rosalind who owns the show. When she disguises herself as Ganymede, a young man, you actually begin to believe she is male. You feel that her love for Orlando is genuine, not just a crush. She is convincing as she leads Orlando along. I’ve seen other Rosalind/Ganymede characters who are not believable, and they make Orlando seem simple for not recognizing they are young women. Farb is able to get the audience invested in her metamorphosis, and Christopher Allen as Orlando, with his passion, makes it all believable.”