Shakespeare's 'As You Like It' opens in a new West End staging

A new West End production of William Shakespeare's 'As You Like It' had its official opening night in London on 15 October 2026 after a week of previews. Directed by Josie Rourke, the staging transplants the Forest of Arden to an off-grid 1980s commune of lesbian feminists in rural Wales, with Rosalind played by a rising RSC actor and a majority-female ensemble of 14. The production uses live folk music composed by Anoushka Lucas, and its set, by Lucy Osborne, is built from woven willow screens that reconfigure between acts. Critics attending the first-night performance praised the Rosalind-Celia pairing and the clarity of the gender-fluid wrestling scene, while debating the loudness of the cross-casting choices. The run, programmed into a 900-seat Shaftesbury Avenue house, extends to late January and is the headline Shakespeare production of the London autumn, overlapping with the Royal Shakespeare Company's own winter season in Stratford.