As You Like It

William Shakespeare (1564 1616) is the most influential writer in English history. Shakespeare has been called The Barb of Avon and Englands national poet. There are 2 narrative poems, 154 sonnets and 38 plays in his collected works. He began work as an actor and writer in London first writing comedies and historic plays. He later wrote tragedies. Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth and Othello are some of his more famous plays. As you Lie It is a pastoral comedy set primarily in the forest of Arden. A duke is exiled by his cruel brother, who later banishes his daughter as well. The action switches from the court to the forest where the exiles and friends wander in a maze of romances and mixed identities.