Shakespeare 'as you like it' but not as you know it
Tuesday August 10 2010
MEN DRESSING up as women and donning wigs and all manner of strange costumes were the order of the day back when William Shakespeare ruled London's theatre but who knows what he'd make of a new production of his comedy 'As You Like It' when it's performed in the historic Lisnavagh House, Rathvilly.
Looking more like punk rockers than anyone who would have trod the Globe Theatre's stage, cast members of the Off the Ground Theatre Company will sport Mohicans, leathers and tartan.
'As You Like It is about people who have either been forced or chosen to drop out of polite society and are making a statement by living how they chose,' Tim Newns, the director of the play, explained. ' Think of it as Shakepeare after he met the Sex Pistols.'
One of the main aims of Off the Ground Theatre is to encourage as many people as possible to become involved with theatre and so come up with ways to engage the audience. This is their fifteenth annual tour and as Lisnavagh House has played host to them during the summer for years, for many it's an essential date on their summer calendar.
The company will perform the play in the garden of the estate, under the summer sky so punters are encouraged to bring along a picnic, refreshments and plenty of warm clothes to snuggle into.
Off the Ground' will perform at Lisnavagh, in the gardens, on Wednesday, August 18, from 7.30 p.m. to 10.30 p.m. Tickets are €16, concessions €11.
