(As part of their coursework at the College of Mount Saint Vincent, students from BNUZ, Beijing Normal University Zhuhai—located in Zhuhai city, Guangdong Province—saw the Public Theater’s production of As You Like It on June 21. What follows are two reactions: future posts will include reviews of Long Day’s Journey Into Night.)
KEEP GOING by Shirley
As You Like It really should be seen because it shows the importance of survival and determination. You can learn something from the plot because we all have to meet various kinds of difficulties in our daily lives. When we grow up, we need to get in touch with society. No matter what the difficulties are, we must keep going all the time.
This comedy is written by William Shakespeare and is directed by Daniel Sullivan. In the play, all characters make efforts to maintain their position in society. Rosalind and her father, Senior, are banished by Celia’s father, Frederick. So they try to find another place to live. At the same time, Orlando is abandoned by his tricky brother Oliver. They all go to the Forest of Arden to avoid the chaotic outside world and create one that is better. In the forest, they are happy and love each other. They live a happy life with hunting, chasing for love, singing, and dancing. Everything in the forest is beautiful and lovely. There are no quarrels, but love.
The outside world is full of struggle. People are fascinated by money and power because people want to have a certain standing. Oliver wants to have more money so he takes away Orlando’s heritage. He finds a wrestler and instigates him to kill Orlando in order to obtain it.
With a strong sense of survival, Orlando keeps fighting no matter how strong the opponent is. On the night of the fight, all people in the town come to see it. The music is now exciting and nervous, which sets the mood for the audience. Compared with Charles, the formidable wrestler, Orlando seems weak and small. At the beginning, Orlando is overpowered by Charles. However, with his strong will to survive and the encouragement and support from the audience, Orlando finally defeats Charles.
The forest is a tough and dangerous place, which has wild animals or maybe even bad guys. It’s too tough for two frail girls to survive. Rosalind disguises herself as a boy because it is the only effective way to protect herself and her cousin. Rosalind is a lovely and beautiful girl, but she is disguised like a boy so that she can keep living and going ahead. This spirit touches me and maybe we should learn from that.
Generally speaking, maybe different people will choose a different way to live, but we should struggle to live a better life. So stretch out your right hand, hold your left one firmly, tell yourself you are fully capable of doing everything well!
–Shirley
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