October 7, 2024 – London ON – Kicking off the Grand Theatre’s 2024/25 Season—in groovy style—is William Shakespeare’s As You Like It infused with the music of The Beatles. The magical, mystery mash-up plays October 15 to November 2 on the Grand’s historic Spriet Stage.
“I can’t think of a more natural fit than Shakespeare and The Beatles,” says Grand Theatre Artistic Director, Rachel Peake. “Both innovative artists, whose works have stood the test of time and continue to resonate across generations, [Shakespeare and The Beatles] are revealed to us in an exciting new light with As You Like It.”
The production, co-adapted by Daryl Cloran and Bard on the Beach Shakespeare Festival (Vancouver), is Shakespeare’s 400-year-old comedy, re-set in the 1960s Okanagan Valley, with large sections of the original prose replaced by the music of The Fab Four. For good measure, audience members who arrive early will enjoy 20-minutes of pre-show entertainment from their seats, in the form of a WWE-style wrestling match.
“Often in musicals, you talk about actors being ‘triple-threats’, meaning they can sing, dance, and act,” explains Director and Co-Adaptor, Daryl Cloran. “In As You Like It, we need quadruple, and sometimes quintuple threats, because not only do they have to be great at Shakespeare, great singers, musicians, and great dancers, but a number of them have to be great wrestlers as well. The virtuosity on display by these actors is amazing.”
The story of As You Like It stays true to Shakespeare’s original plot and prose, while infusing many details evocative of the vibrant escapism of the hippie generation. Banished from court, and newly disguised, protagonist Rosalind escapes into the forest for a groovy, pastoral adventure. There, she runs into her love Orlando (whose loyalty she works to test). As the couple navigates the long and winding road, with a price on their heads, colourful characters in their midst, mistaken identities to navigate, and a scheming businesswoman on their tails, it becomes clear that love may not be “all you need.”
The Grand Theatre production of As You Like It marks the ninth run of this Canadian-made mash-up. Beginning in 2018 with the first of two runs at Bard on the Beach (to an audience of 60,000 patrons, marking the company’s most successful run in their history), As You Like It went on to play at The Citadel Theatre (Edmonton), the Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre, Chicago Shakespeare Theater, Milwaukee Repertory Theater, the Shakespeare Theatre Company (Washington, D.C.), and Theatre Calgary.
The creative team helming the Eastern Canada premiere in London, Ontario are: Daryl Cloran (Adaptor/Director), Ben Elliott (Music Director/Supervisor), Jonathan Hawley Purvis (Choreographer/Fight Director), Pam Johnson (Set Designer), Carmen Alatorre (Costume Designer), Hina Nishioka (Lighting Designer, original Lighting Design by Gerald King), and Owen Hutchison (Sound Designer, original Sound Design by Peter McBoyle).
Grand audiences will be treated to the multi-talents of an ensemble cast consisting of company members both original to, and new to this production of As You Like It. Local audiences will recognize familiar faces, Jan Alexandra Smith (Grand Ghosts, Mary Poppins, Mamma Mia!, Vigilante, A Christmas Carol (2018), and others), as well as Tyler Check (Million Dollar Quartet).
AS YOU LIKE IT
By William Shakespeare Adapted and Directed by Daryl Cloran Conceived by Daryl Cloran and Bard on the Beach Shakespeare Festival OCT 15 to NOV 2 (Red Carpet Season Opening Night - OCT 18)
CREATIVE TEAM
Daryl Cloran – Adaptor/Director
Ben Elliott – Music Director
Jonathan Purvis – Choreographer/Fight Director
Pam Johnson – Set Designer
Carmen Alatorre – Costume Designer
Hina Nishioka – Lighting Designer
Owen Hutchison – Sound Designer
Christine Leroux – Stage Manager
Suzanne McArthur – Assistant Stage Manager
Emma Jo Conlin – Apprentice Stage Manager
CAST
Henry Beasley
William / Jacques de Boys /
Wrestler (The Assassins) / Forest Lord #1
Tyler Check
Forest Lord (Amiens) / Hyman /
Wrestler (The Assassins) / Musician (Guitar)
Nadien Chu
Dame Frances / Dame Senior
Jennifer Copping
Corin / Dame Frances' Attendant (Dance Captain)
Daniela Fernandez
Rosalind
Jeff Irving
Orlando de Boys
Alexandra Lainfiesta
Phoebe / Eleanor Rigby
Anton Lipovetsky
Silvius / Forest Lord / Keyboards (Music Captain)
Matthew MacDonald-Bain
Oliver de Boys (Fight Captain)
Jenny McKillop
Audrey/Lady Danger
June Mirochnick
Musician (Drums) / Forest Lord
Naomi Ngebulana
Celia
Troy O'Donnell
Adam / Martext / Wrestler (Mustachio)
Jan Alexandra Smith
Jacques / Le Beau
Isaiah Terrell-Dobbs
Musician
Leon Willey
Touchstone
Jacob Woike
Charles the Wrestler / Forest Lord
As You Like It plays on the Spriet Stage from October 15 to November 2, 2024. Single tickets range from $24-$96, and are available at www.grandtheatre.com, by phone at 519.672.8800, or at the Box Office, 471 Richmond Street. There is a Canada Life Pay-What-You-Can performance on Sunday, October 20 at 2:00 p.m. (Pay-What-You-Can tickets become available online at midnight on the day of the performance, with a selection of tickets held for in-person purchase one hour prior to the performance at the Grand Theatre Box Office). There is an Open Caption performance on Saturday, October 26, 2024 at 2:00 p.m.
The Grand Theatre gratefully acknowledges Season Sponsor BMO, Downtown Community Partner Old Oak Properties, and Title Sponsor BlueStone Properties.
To learn more about As You Like It, please visit www.grandtheatre.com/event/as-you-like-it. Additional facts, photos, and updates can also be found by following @thegrandlondon and #GrandLove on Facebook, X, Instagram, and TikTok.
The Grand Theatre is located on the traditional territories of the Original storytellers and caretakers of this land and the Nations, both settler and Indigenous, who continue to uphold the various treaties of the Anishinaabek, Haudenosaunee, and Lunaapéewak. We value the significant historical and contemporary contributions of local and regional First Nations, and all of the Original Peoples of Turtle Island (colonially known as North America), and acknowledge the traditional lands upon which we live, work, share, and tell stories together.
About the Grand Theatre – World Curious. London Made.
The Grand Theatre is known for world-class theatre created and built in London, Ontario. As southwestern Ontario’s premiere producing theatre and one of the most beautiful theatre spaces in Canada, the company has deep ties to the community and to its artists, artisans, and technicians.
As a vibrant cultural hub and not-for-profit professional theatre, the Grand serves to gather, inspire, and entertain audiences in London and beyond. At our home in downtown London, we create productions on two stages: the Spriet Stage (839 seats) and the Auburn Developments Stage (144 seats). The Grand season of theatrical offerings runs from September to May, and we collaborate with companies and artists across the country through our co-productions that see London-made artistic and creative work travel to audiences nation-wide. Through our successful New Play Development
Program, the Grand is committed to developing and premiering new, original works and supporting the growth and reach of theatre writers and creators. Our recently renovated venue offers a contemporary and welcoming environment that is also home to several successful music series’, community arts rentals, and cultural and special events.
A cornerstone of the organization is our place as a teaching theatre, exemplified in our many mentorship programs and highlighted in our annual Grand Theatre High School Project. As the first program of its kind in the country and currently in its twenty-sixth year, the High School Project involves as many as one hundred high school participants annually from schools across the region. These students participate at no cost and take on roles both on stage and off, in a fully realized mainstage production under the direction of a professional creative team.
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Lia Karidas, Director of Marketing & Digital Strategy
lkaridas@grandtheatre.com
office: 519-672-9030 ext. 280
