Chris Steele, Stevie DeMott, Adam Magill, Dave Maier, Lady Zen, Cathleen Riddley, Jeunée Simon, Fatemeh Mehraban, and David Sinaiko Photo by Jay Yamada

So it's not surprising that Marin Shakespeare Company would choose Pride Month to stage a production of As You Like It in which gender roles are sometimes mixed, a same-sex couple marries in the final scene, and the entire play revels in exploring what director Evren Odçikin says "may be Shakespeare's queerest play."

Like many of the Bard's works, there is plenty of gender bending going on in As You Like It: Rosalind (played by Jeunée Simon) is banished from the Duke's court, but takes on the appearance of a boy, Ganymede, in order to travel in greater safety to the Forest of Arden where Rosalind's father, Duke Senior (Cathleen Ridley, in more gender-bending casting), has been living after his brother, Duke Frederick (a brilliant Lisa Wolpe, with an adorable painted on pencil-thin mustache), has usurped the rightful duke.

Driven from court by her villainous uncle, Rosalind is accompanied by the usurping duke's daughter, Celia (Fatemeh Mehraban), her cousin and lifelong friend, as well as the duke's fool, Touchstone (David Sinaiko). Together, the three trudge into the forest, where their adventures truly begin. This being Shakespeare, there is plenty of love at first sight–each moment of which is indicated by a very subtle "ping" sound effect that somehow perfectly encapsulates that sense of instantaneous desire–and even more gorgeous language.

Though the Forest of Arden looks absolutely nothing like a forest in Randy Wong-Westbrooke's delightfully detailed set, its reveal elicited gasps from the audience, enraptured as I was by it. I will spare you a description and save you the surprise. As wondrous as Wong-Westbrooke's set it, it is merely the backdrop for the many thrilling performances by a highly-skilled cast.

Adam Magill plays Rosalind's besotted suitor with a remarkable naïveté that serves to endear us to the character and long for his success in achieving his goals. His expressive eyes truly become windows to his character's soul, and his exasperated sighs and the way his entire body moves tell us volumes about the rigors of his journeys. As Touchstone, David Sinaiko uses his precisely honed physicality to play a fool with more wisdom than most of the other characters. Sinaiko cavorts and clowns with a sprightliness that is delightful to behold.

But the true thespian star of this show might be Lisa Wolpe, who plays Duke Frederick with a sneering, superior demeanor that makes us instantly despise the character–and then returns as Jacques, the melancholy commentator on the action. Wolpe manages to be both an outsider looking in on the antics of the royals (and not so royal), while still being an integral part of the action. Jacques's most famous speech, the all the world's a stage/seven ages of man, is delivered by Wolpe with a heartbreaking yet passionate pessimism, as though each era of human life is something to be endured. And then there is Lady Zen, playing the musician Amiens, filling the night air with her gorgeous, powerful mezzo-soprano voice as she sings songs both Shakespearean ("Under the Greenwood Tree") and contemporary (Foreigner's "I Want To Know What Love Is.")

The cast is costumed with tremendous imagination and gender fluidity by Maggie Whitaker. The opening scene features the members of the court in various all-black outfits as they perform a brief, choreographed dance sequence–into which appears Duke Frederick, showing his/her uniqueness and power via a white jacket with an abstract gold pattern. Once the scene shifts to the Forest of Arden, the clothes lose the monochromatic nature of the scenes in court and explode in a riot of color and pattern.

As You Like It may indeed be Shakespeare's queerest play, but it's also one of his most entertaining, and it is beautifully rendered here by a talented cast and creative team.

As You Like It runs through July 21, 2026, at the Forest Meadows Amphitheatre, 890 Belle Avenue, San Rafael CA. Performances Thursdays-Saturdays at 7:30pm and Sundays at 5:00pm. Tickets are $0-$49. For tickets and information, please visit www.marinshakespeare.org.