This month, the three witches shakespeare company will bring William Shakespeare’s “As You Like It” to Play Louisville. Adapted by director Mollie Murk of Kentucky Shakespeare, Actors Theatre of Louisville, and Cincinnati Shakespeare, “As You Like It” will be the second play produced by three witches shakespeare. Their site-specific production of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” sold out at Louisville Nature Center in 2023. Their upcoming production at Play Louisville is poised for similar success.
Balancing playfulness with debauchery, and featuring a cast of women, transgender, and gender nonconforming people, “As You Like It” transforms the text of the 17th-century pastoral comedy into a celebration of queer identity. Murk says the production “welcomes everyone into a theatrical world rooted in queer joy, community, and liberation. These themes are integral to the story of Rosalind and Celia’s escape from an oppressive regime into the vibrant Forest of Arden.”
Three witches co-founder Clarity Hagan is producing “As You Like It” and says the choice of location shines a spotlight on the narrative themes: “Rosalind dresses in drag to keep her and her dearest friend Celia safe, and they discover themselves anew in The Forest of Arden—which, in our hyper-contemporary version, is reimagined as an underground queer nightclub in Kentucky—represented in our staging by the dance floor of Play Louisville, one of the few gay nightclubs in Kentucky.”
As You Like It
Play Louisville
1101 E. Washington St.
March 15, 17, 18, 22, 23, 24
7:00 p.m.
$20 in advance and at the door
All attendees must be 18 year or older
This article appears in Feb 28 – Mar 12, 2024.
