#as you like it

[rogersandclarke]

katharine hepburn as ganymede/rosalind in as you like it in 1950

[sparknoteslitmemes]

[a-kind-of-merry-war]

brb I'm stealing his gender

[David Tennant as Touchstone in As You Like It, 1996]

[kamishirowxs]

kimi to ima saa saa majiwatte me o sorashiau

dandan iya ni natte demo suki ni naru

[emotinalsupportturtle]

..and he wrote them for David Tennant

[bookholichany]

David Tennant in Shakespeare plays

[As you like it, Measure for measure, love's labor lost, Richard II, Hamlet, The Comedy of errors, King Lear, Romeo and Juliet, much Ado about nothing, Macbeth]

P.s. he had also been in Edward III as Edward the black prince and the midsummer night's dream as Lysander/flute but I couldn't find any pictures from those plays. Also he had taken part in many audio performances from Archangel archive full Shakespeare plays collection to BBC radio Macbeth 2022.

[legendary-dumpster-fire]

RIP William Shakespeare, you would have loved neopronouns

[catullus101]

David Tennant as Touchstone in a Royal Shakespeare Company's production of As You Like It (1996).

Photo by Reg Wilson [x]

[zforzelma]

A list* of Shakespeare characters for which casting a trans actor is the strongest choice.

Take a look at your complete works of Shakespeare. You can pack so much Gender in those plays. I am of the opinion that casting should be undertaken to highlight the text and make new discoveries.

Really, any Shakespeare role can and should be played by a trans person of any variety, but there are some roles in particular that I think would unfold incredible revelations about the text. I'm leaving out magical characters and fools because that's too obvious.

Lysander - Mids; why don't you want me to marry your daughter? Say it, you coward.

Helena - Mids; This one would be psychologically intense for the actress, so really only attempt if you've got a good therapist. Having a trans woman in this role would be such a gut-punch for so much of the text, I honestly think it would make the audience uncomfortable at some parts. To which I say: GOOD.

I have so many more.

Viola - 12th; Also pretty psychologically intense with all the cross dressing, and the wow-you-look-just-like-your-brother, but her equivocation about gender in her conversations with Orsino would absolutely sing.

Orlando - As You Like It; His older brother won't let him go to college with the other men. Proves himself by winning in a wrestling match. Doesn't recognize his crush when she's cross dressing.

Mercutio - R&J; At this point I feel like everyone knows Mercutio is a nonbinary lesbian or trans masc. Right? Like, we all know that. Jokes aside, I think his difficult relationship with masculinity and honor would be interesting if interpreted by a trans actor.

Hamlet - Hamlet; Obviously. I mean duh. trans masc, trans fem, man, woman, both or neither. Any queer person probably gets Hamlet on a visceral level better than any cis straight person. Who's even casting a cis man as Hamlet in the year of our lord 2023? Yawn.

Laertes - Hamlet; Yeah I don't know what it is. This one is purely vibes based.

Macduff - Macbeth; I actually made Macduff a woman, changed all the pronouns and made him a lesbian when I directed, and I'd probably do that again. But I think Duff could also - or alternately - be trans. I think it would say something interesting about violence of his journey, the scene with future King Malcolm, and the fact that Duff is the one to behead ol' Mack.

What do you guys think? Did I miss an obvious one?

* this is not at all a comprehensive list

[iamnmbr3]

So you know the scene at the end of The Taming of The Shrew where they have that stupid competition to see whose wife is most obedient? Can you imagine if other Shakespeare characters were there?

Ophelia: You called, My Lord?

Hamlet: No I didn’t. Why are you here when nobody likes you? Go away!

Petruchio: Even I think that’s mean.

Romeo: Go find Juliet and ask her if she would come here and tell her she has the most beautiful eyes, that make the very sun seem dull, and the loveliest hair and a face that puts to shame Aphrodite herself...oh and bring her this sonnet I wrote her...and actually I’ll go find her myself for I can’t bear to be apart from her another moment!

Petruchio: …

Petruchio: … Yeah he’s not coming back. Next!

Coriolanus: Go find my wife and ask her to come here and also ask her if she's seen Aufidius. Actually, have you seen Aufidius...or heard any news of him?

Servant: No I haven't… Is there a name or a description I could use to find your wife?

Coriolanus: Hold on. I know this one.

Petruchio: Wow... We’ll come back to you. Next!

Orlando: I refuse to participate in this farce. It’s demeaning to women.

“Ganymede”: Nonsense! Any real man (which I totally am) wants women to obey him without question!

Orlando: That’s wrong! That’s not being a “real man”; that’s just being a bully. I would never treat Rosalind that way and I hope no one else would either!

“Ganymede”: … You pass the test.

Orlando: What?

"Ganymede": What?

Benedick: HEY BEATRICE!

Beatrice from 3 rooms away: WHAT?

Benedick: CAN YOU COME HERE A SECOND?

Beatrice: WHY?

Benedick: SOME MAN HERE WANTS TO SEE IF YOU’RE OBEDIENT.

Beatrice: WHY ARE YOU PERPETUATING THE OBJECTIFICATION OF WOMEN INSTEAD OF PUNCHING HIM IN THE FACE?

Benedick: YOU MEAN YOU DON’T WANT TO COME HERE AND SHOW OFF YOUR OBEDIENCE? I AM SHOCKED AND HEARTBROKEN!

Beatrice: HA. HA. SO HILARIOUS.

Beatrice: … HE STILL DOESN’T SOUND VERY PUNCHED IN THE FACE. I SUGGEST YOU FIX THAT UNLESS YOU WANT TO SLEEP ON THE COUCH FOREVER!

Benedick: ON IT!

Benedick *rolling up his sleeves*: Isn’t she great?

[chalicechipper]

as you like it / 3.2.256-60

[fluentisonus]

rosalind from as you like it was insane (affectionate) for all that. she disguises herself as a guy & then upon meeting the guy she is in love with (also in love with her) in the woods decides to pull the greatest gender stunt in the world and convinces him to roleplay wooing the lady he's in love with (her) with her (as a man) pretending to be herself. and incredibly he goes along with calling this handsome young man by his girlfriend's name & wooing her & halfway getting gay married just in time for her (a woman disguised as a man roleplaying a woman) to break out the line "I will be more jealous of thee / than a barbary cock-pigeon over his hen" leaving us with a stunning Four Levels of Gender (1. woman 2. woman disguised as a man 3. woman disguised as a man roleplaying a woman 4. woman disguised as a man roleplaying a woman who (in her persona as a woman) then refers to herself as a 'cock-pigeon' and the man she loves as a 'hen')

[misslevel]

Couldn't fit all the comedies in the 12 options, so made separate polls for Problem Plays and Late Romances.

(Also: Shakespeare poll tag, for all the different genres.)

[lifeandtimesoftrying]

THERE IS A RECORDING OF AS YOU LIKE IT (1996)

Breaking news!! Extra, extra, read all about it!!! You may have been pictures of David Tennant such as this one:

but upon trying to find a way to watch the production this is from, been told that there's no way to do so. And this is partially true: there is no copy of this floating around on the internet, and no DVDs have been released. BUT! Not all is lost! @raining-stars-somewhere-else and I have been investigating, and there is a recording of As You Like It (1996) housed in the archives of the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust. According to their website, there is a VHS tape and two DVDs (though one of them stops playing halfway through). There are no digital copies of available to the public, but you can go to their reading room for free and access their archives that way. Neither my fellow detective nor I have ever been, so we're not sure exactly how it works, but we believe that you can watch the archived video recordings so long as you're in-person. Unfortunately, we cannot get there ourselves, but we're sharing what we know in hopes that someone who reads this can do some on-the-ground reconnaissance. According to the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust's website, the reading room is located "on Guild Street to the rear of the Shakespeare Centre, Stratford-upon-Avon, CV37 6QW" in England. If you find anything new, please let us know, and if you want to remain anonymous we can do that. Good luck everyone!!!

relevant links:

Shakespeare Birthplace Trust's home page

Archive page for the recording

Information about the Reading Room

RSC's page for the performance (this is where the picture is from, and has information about the cast and crew)