As You Like It: Live from the Globe

I choose As You Like It because it was one that I wasn't familiar with.  Watching the recording from the Globe was AMAZING!!! It would be awesome to visit someday but this was a really good substitute for my college budget.  (You really can't beat free!)  I loved this performance because the players were interacting with the audience: fighting down by the groundlings, running away from each other INTO THE AUDIENCE, heckling the other players from the back, etc etc.  The songs also brought an interesting twist because I wasn't quite used to those melodies or harmonies that were sung, and so it brought a more authentic feel to the performance. 

However, it was interesting that it wasn't until Rosalind was picking up poetry from the forest that I realized I actually had seen this play before.  It was produced at my middle school and obviously was shortened and condensed to appropriate for younger audiences which is why I didn't quite recognize it at first.  Although both performances were enjoyable and I was laughing out loud, the Globe version is superior because when they started dancing at the end they incorporated both Shakespearean and modern dancing.  The audience recognized popular moves and clapped and cheered along with the actors.  I felt that it made the experience more realistic because that's exactly what Shakespeare would have done when his plays were originally performed.  It was perfect!