This production features caption screens at every performance.
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About The Show
This winter journey into the Forest of Arden in William Shakespeare’s glorious romantic comedy, As You Like It.
This joyous adaptation directed by Olivier Award nominated Josie Rourke stars Leah Harvey (Foundation, The Wonderful World of Dissocia) as Rosalind, Rose Ayling-Ellis (EastEnders, Strictly Come Dancing 2021 winner) as Celia making her West End debut, Alfred Enoch (Harry Potter films, Red, West End) as Orlando, Tom Mison (Sleepy Hollow, Watchmen) as Touchstone and Martha Plimpton (The Good Wife, Sweat, West End) in the role of Jaques.
“Deaf members of the audience are able to sit wherever they want. Hearing people reading the captions, laughing and reacting to our signing on stage, coming into our world and understanding Shakespeare because of this. This is why we do accessible theatre.”
Rose Ayling-Ellis, Celia – As You Like It
Show Dates
6th December 2022 - 28th January 2023Duration
Approx 2hrs 40mins including one interval
Reviews
★★★★‘Josie Rourke’s enchanting, playful production’
The Times
★★★★‘What an exquisite liberation this Arden is’
Guardian
★★★★‘Beautiful…full of music and charm’
Evening Standard
★★★★‘Leah Harvey is captivating’
Theatre Weekly
★★★★‘Alfred Enoch is sensational’
WhatsOnStage
★★★★‘Martha Plimpton and the whole ensemble shine’
Guardian
★★★★‘Rose Ayling-Ellis makes a captivating West End debut as Celia’
London Theatre
★★★★‘Startlingly beautiful’
Time Out
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Cast
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Leah Harvey
Rosalind
Leah Harvey (they/them) plays Rosalind. Leah’s theatre credits include The Wonderful World of Dissocia (Theatre Royal Stratford East), Small Island (National Theatre), Emilia (Shakespeare’s Globe), Shakespeare Trilogy (Donmar at King’s Cross). Television and film credits include Foundation (BAFTA nomination: Best Supporting Actress), Fighting with My Family, Tuesday (upcoming) and On the Road.
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Rose Ayling-Ellis
Celia
Rose Ayling-Ellis (she/her) plays Celia. Rose is a deaf actress and activist. In 2018, she was cast in Stephen Poliakoff’s ‘Summer of Rockets’ for BBC2, her first major television role. Theatre came next, with Rose performing at the Royal Exchange Manchester and Birmingham Rep Theatre. Rose joined the cast of EastEnders in 2020 and was the first deaf character to use BSL on the soap. Rose has firmly positioned herself as a much-loved figure on British television screens. This role has given her the platform to not only showcase her talents as an actor, but has initiated the beginning of Rose firmly marking herself out as the role model she felt she lacked as a young person. In 2021, Rose was propelled to the attention of the nation and wider industry as the first deaf contestant to appear on BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing. With her dance partner Giovanni Pernice, Rose went on to win the competition, lifting the glitterball at the end of the series. In 2022, the pair won Virgin Media’s Must-See Moment award at the BAFTA TV Awards for their ‘silent dance’. As well as acting, Rose’s passions lie in sharing deaf culture and advocating for the deaf community.
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Alfred Enoch
Orlando
Alfred Enoch (he/him) plays Orlando. Alfred’s theatre credits include Crave (Chichester Festival Theatre), What A Carve Up! (online), Tree (Young Vic), Red (West End), King Lear (Royal Exchange), Coriolanus (Donmar Warehouse), Timon of Athens, Antigone (National Theatre), Happy New (Trafalgar Studios). Television credits include Foundation, Trust Me 2, Troy, How To Get Away With Murder, Sherlock, Mount Pleasant and Broadchurch. Film credits include The Critic, Tigers, Medida Provisoria and the Harry Potter films.
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Tom Mison
Touchstone
Tom Mison (he/him) plays Touchstone. Theatre credits include The Way Of The World (Donmar Warehouse), POSH (Royal Court & West End), Henry Iv Parts 1 & 2 (Theatre Royal Bath), Elektra (Headlong/Young Vic), When The Rain Stops Falling (Almeida Theatre), Hedda (Gate Theatre), The Living Unknown Soldier (Arcola Theatre), Les Enfants Du Paradis (Arcola Theatre), The Collection (Georgian International Festival of Theatre (GIFT), Hamlet (Old Vic Theatre), Achidi J’s Final Hours (Soho Theatre), Comedy Of Errors (Cliveden Open Air Theatre), The Crossing Path (Lyttleton Loft, National Theatre), The Revenge Of Truth (Lyttleton Loft, National Theatre), Time On Fire (Cottesloe, National Theatre). Television includes The Ex-Wife, See (Series 2 & 3), Watchmen, Four Weddings And A Funeral, Sleepy Hollow, Bones, Parade’s End, New Tricks, Lewis, Poirot: Third Girl, Lost In Austen, Secret Diary Of A Call Girl, The Amazing Mrs Pritchard, Waste Of Shame, Slingers (Pilot). Film includes The Riot Club, Jadoo, Dead Cat, Salmon Fishing In The Yemen, One Day, Venus, Heroes And Villains, L’entente Cordiale and The Mysterious Island.
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Martha Plimpton
Jaques
Martha Plimpton (she/her) plays Jaques. Martha Plimpton’s theatre credits include Sweat (Donmar Warehouse/West End), Other Desert Cities (Old Vic), Company (New York Philharmonic), A Delicate Balance (John Golden, NY), Pal Joey (Roundabout, NY), Top Girls (MTC), subUrbia, Cymbeline, The Coast of Utopia (Lincoln Centre), Shining City, Top Girls (The Biltmore, NY), A Midsummer Night’s Dream, (Public, NY, Shakespeare in the Park), The False Servant (Classic Stage Co.), Flesh and Blood (New York Theatre Workshop), The Haggadah, Runaways, Pericles, Boston Marriage (Public, NY), Hobson’s Choice (Atlantic, NY), Hedda Gabler, Playboy of the Western World (Long Wharf Theatre, Steppenwolf), Absolution – director, The Glass Menagerie, The Libertine (Steppenwolf) and Uncle Vanya, The Heidi Chronicles, The Sisters Rosensweig, Robbers (Seattle Repertory Theatre). Her TV and film credits include the upcoming A Town Called Malice, Sprung, The Man Who Fell To Earth, Generation, Flack, Brockmire, At Home With Amy Sedaris, The Guest Book, The Blacklist, The Real O’Neals, Younger, The Good Wife, Raising Hope, How To Make It In America, Grey’s Anatomy, Law & Order: Criminal Intent, Law & Order: SVU, ER, Mass, Frozen 2, Hello Again, Company, Pecker, 200 Cigarettes, Eye of God, I’m Not Rappaport, I Shot Andy Warhol, Beautiful Girls, Mrs Parker & The Vicious Circle, Stanley & Iris, Parenthood, Another Woman, Running On Empty, Stars & Bars, Shy People, The Mosquito Coast, The Goonies, The River Rat.
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Allie Daniel
Amiens
Allie Daniel (she/her) plays Amiens. Theatre credits include in Happy Meal (Traverse Theatre & U.K. Tour), Legally Blonde (Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre), Priscilla Queen of the Desert the Musical (UK Tour), Millennials (Turbine), RENT (Hope Mill Theatre), Disenchanted (West End Musical Productions), Thursford Christmas Spectacular. Concert credits include: Peter and the Wolf (Cadogan Hall), Roles We’ll Never Play (Lyric), Always Starting Over (True Voices Cabaret), Secret Society of Leading Ladies (Barn Theatre, Cirencester) and Break Free (Thespie).
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Tom Edden
Duke Frederick
Tom Edden (he/him) plays Duke Frederick. Theatre credits include Crazy For You (Chichester Festival), Cyrano de Bergerac, The Pinter Season and Doctor Faustus (The Jamie Lloyd Company); Our Town (Regents Park), Matilda (RSC/ West End), The Resistible Rise Of Arturo Ui (Donmar), Amadeus (National Theatre), Measure for Measure (Young Vic), Peter Pan Goes Wrong (Apollo), Les Miserables (Queen’s), A Little Hotel on the Side (Theatre Royal Bath), Hamlet, Betrayal & Summer Lightning (Royal Theatre Northampton), Oliver! (Sheffield Crucible – UK Theatre award nominee best actor in a musical) and One Man Two Guvnors (National Theatre, West End, Broadway (Drama Desk Award for Best Actor in a Featured Role and nominated for a Tony and Critic’s Circle Award). Television credits include Starstruck, Singapore Grip, Upstart Crow, The Scandalous Lady W, Doctor Who, Stuart a Life Backwards, Spartans, The Wolf Man. Film credits include Star Wars Episode VII – The Force Awakens, Mr Turner and Cinderella.
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Dickon Gough
Charles
Dickon Gough (he/him) plays Charles. Trained at LIPA and studied opera at Birkbeck. Theatre credits include City of Angels (Garrick), The Midnight Gang (World Premiere, Chichester Festival Theatre), The Addams Family Musical (Original UK cast, National & International Tour), Clocks 1888: The Greener (Hackney Empire/National Tour), Pirates of Penzance (Kilworth House Theatre), OperaUpClose’s Olivier Award Winning La Boheme (Soho Theatre/Charing Cross Theatre), Don Giovanni (Soho Theatre), L’Elisir d’Amore (Ravenna Festival, Italy), Orpheus in the Underworld (Bloomsbury Theatre), Don Giovanni (Opera della Luna), The Merry Widow (Opera della Luna), Carmen, Krol Roger, Guillaume Tell, Die Fliegende Hollander, Billy Budd (Royal Opera House), La Nozze di Figaro, (Theatre Royal, Bury St Edmunds), Gianni Schicchi (Opera Holland Park), Jesus Christ Superstar (Wyllyotts Theatre) and Pirates of Penzance (Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre).
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Gabriella Leon
Audrey
Gabriella Leon (she/her) plays Leon. Training: East 15 Acting School. Theatre includes Police Cops: The Musical (Assembly One), The Red Tree (Arena Theatre), Close (Landor Space), The Others (Camden People’s Theatre), Tesla (The Alchemist) and Can Can (workshop – Told by an Idiot). Television includes Casualty, (2018- 2021 BBC Studios. Gabriella was the first deaf series regular in the show’s history. Her main episode contributed to Casualty’s BAFTA win in 2021), Shakespeare and Hathaway (BBC Birmingham) and Maryland, (Lucy Kirkwood, View From The Hill, Century Films). As You Like It is Gabriella’s West End debut.
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Mary Malone
Phoebe
Mary Malone (she/her) plays Phoebe. Mary is an actor and theatre maker based in London and a graduate of the Acting & Contemporary Theatre (CT) Course at East15 School of Acting. Her screen credits include Vera (ITV), Chivalry (Channel 4), The Girlfriend Experience (Starz) and Play in a Day (Sky Arts), directed by Josie Rourke. Other credits include Hell Cats 2 (Audible), directed by Kate Saxon, Gulliver’s Travels (Unicorn Theatre) and The Prince (Southwark Playhouse).
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Syakira Moeladi
Hisperia
Syakira Moeladi (she/her) trained at the Drama Centre and makes her professional stage debut as Hisperia.
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Nathan Queely-Dennis
Silvius
Nathan Queeley-Dennis (he/him) plays Silvius. Nathan has just finished a successful run of Black Love at the Kiln Theatre. Other recent credits include Really Big and Really Loud with Paines Plough, Hear Me Now (Tamasha), Rebel Music (Birmingham REP), A Taste of Honey (National Theatre).
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Cal Watson
Le Beau
Cal Watson (they/them) plays Le Beau. Theatre credits include Think (Mind Out Theatre Company), The Revengers Tragedy (The Rose at Bankside) and Divine Chaos of Starry Things. Television credits include The Peripheral (Amazon Prime), EastEnders, Britannia and Holby City.
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June Watson
Adam and Corin
June Watson (she/her) plays Adam and Corin. June received the 2014 Clarence Derwent Award for her portrayal of Mammy in The Cripple of Inishmaan and Nanny in Before the Party. Theatre includes A Doll’s House, Part 2 (Donmar Warehouse), After Life (National Theatre and Headlong), The Welkin, John, Scenes from the Big Picture, The Good Hope, Our Lady of Sligo, Cardiff East, The Prince’s Play, Le Cid, Rutherford and Son, Machinal, Billy Liar, Whale, Garden of England, As I Lay Dying, The Beggar’s Opera, Il Campiello, State of the Revolution (National Theatre), Uncle Vanya, Good People, Sir is Winning, Lark Rise, The Passion, The World Turned Upside Down, The Long Voyage Home (Hampstead Theatre), Road, Kosher Harry, Beside Herself, Saved, Small Change, Life Price, Glasshouses (Royal Court Theatre), Escaped Alone (Royal Court Theatre, BAM, UK tour), The Father, Mrs Lowry and Son (Trafalgar Studios), The Cripple of Inishmaan (Noël Coward Theatre, Broadway); Good People (Hampstead Theatre); Before the Party, Hippolytus (Almeida Theatre); Uncle Vanya
(Vaudeville Theatre); Calendar Girls (UK tour); Another Door Closed (Theatre Royal Bath); Aristo (Chichester Festival Theatre); The Children’s Hour (Royal Exchange Theatre), Smaller, Middle Aged Spread (Lyric West End); Mary Stuart (Apollo Theatre); Talking to Terrorists, Sliding with Suzanne (Royal Court/Out of Joint); Romeo & Juliet (RSC); Streetcar to Tennessee (Young Vic); Blue Heart (Out of Joint); Coriolanus, The Winter’s Tale, The Wars of the Roses (English Shakespeare Company); Ballroom (Theatre Royal Stratford East); Waiting for the Parade (Lyric Hammersmith). Television includes Whitstable Pearl, The Cockfields, All Creatures Great and Small, Casualty, The Midnight Gang, Chernobyl, Call the Midwife, To Walk Invisible, Agatha Raisin, Thirteen, Unforgotten, A Song for Jenny, Holby City, The Café, Doctors, Wallander; Law and Order UK, Coming Up, Above Suspicion, New Tricks, Hancock and Joan, The Bill, The Street, Billy Goat’s Gruff, City of Vice, Clapham Junction, Wedding Belles, The Time of Your Life, Strictly Confidential, In Denial of Murder, The Key, Willian & Mary; Midsomer Murders, Brotherly Love, Thursday 12th, In A Land of Plenty, Where the Heart Is, Berkeley Square, Kavanagh QC and A Mug’s Game. Film includes Your Christmas or Mine, The Bike Thief, The Death of Stalin, The Lady in the Van, Ghost Hunter, 102 Dalmatians, Highlander IV: Endgame, The Last Yellow, The Knowledge and Bloody Kids.
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Ben Wiggins
Oliver
Ben Wiggins (he/him) plays Oliver. Theatre credits include Coriolanus (Sheffield Crucible), Antony & Cleopatra (National Theatre) Tonight at 8:30 (Jermyn Street Theatre), Henry V (Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Middle Temple Hall), Son of a Precariat (Southwark Playhouse), Two Gentlemen of Verona, Hayfever and Romeo and Juliet (Changeling Theatre), Here: The 99% (Lyric Hammersmith), Proof and Lord of the Flies (Sell A Door Theatre Company). Television credits include Grace (ITV), You (Netflix), The Sandman (Netflix), The Witcher (Netflix) and A Discovery of Witches (Sky). Film credits include Mary Queen of Scots, Anna and the Apocalypse and Cam2Cam.
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Michael Bruce
Composer/Pianist
Michael Bruce (he/him) trained at LIPA in Liverpool. He was composer-in-residence at the Donmar Warehouse from 2012-2019. His work as a composer includes Much Ado About Nothing, Antony & Cleopatra, Hansard, Twelfth Night, The Beaux’ Stratagem, Strange Interlude, Men Should Weep and Man and Superman at the National Theatre; Timon of Athens, The Two Gentlemen of Verona and Candide for the RSC; Measure for Measure, The Lady from the Sea, Coriolanus, Trelawny of the Wells, The Vote (also More4), Saint Joan, Berenice, Privacy (also The Public Theater, Off-Broadway), Philadelphia, Here I Come!, The Recruiting Officer, Les Liaisons Dangereuses (also Broadway) and The Physicists at the Donmar Warehouse; Noises Off (also West End), The Winslow Boy (also Broadway) and Other Desert Cities at the Old Vic; The Importance of Being Earnest, Hay Fever, Relatively Speaking, Much Ado About Nothing and Michael Bruce at the Apollo (also lyricist) in the West End; The Illusionist (also lyricist) at The Nissay Theatre in Tokyo; and The Great British Country Fete (also lyricist) at The Bush Theatre. TV includes Hard Cell (Netflix) and Keeping Company With Sondheim (PBS). Film includes The Nan Movie (Warner Bros) and Romeo & Juliet (NT/Sky arts). His publications include Writing Music for the Stage: a Practical Guide for Theatremakers.
Creative
Josie Rourke
Director
Rob Jones
Design
Howard Harrison
Lighting
John Leonard
Sound
Michael Bruce
Music
Kate Waters
Fight Director
All performances of As You like It are Captioned.
@sohoplace are happy to confirm that Rose Ayling-Ellis and other members of the company will be using BSL as part of the performance and we have announced that all performances of the play will run with captions which will be accessible to patrons sitting in the Stalls and First Balcony. The captions have been incorporated into the production to create a fully inclusive experience for all. Screens will be set on all four sides of the theatre.