There is no greater drama than that of learning to love.  Romantic love is only one part of that drama, but in it, as in every partial love, we can see the larger drama at work.  Director Polly Findlay’s production of As You Like It was especially helpful in highlighting the acute vulnerability and journey that loving requires of us.  And this course, Understanding As You Like It, led by theatre critic and academic Kate Bassett, was particularly helpful in revealing the vulnerability and journey accepted by this NT company in offering us this depiction of love.

I will summarise the course, segment by segment, and thenconclude with my own thoughts, endeavoring to put As You Like It in the context of Socratic drama.