Director Damien Ryan is a Shakespeare specialist, and As You Like It is one of the plays he comes back to again and again.

His new production for Queensland Theatre will be his third as a director. “I’ve also done I three or four times as an actor when I worked with Bell Shakespeare back in the day,” Ryan tells Limelight. “To my mind, it’s one of the comedies that is the most satisfying to play, especially over a long season or on tour. It just seems to sustain itself and get more interesting the longer you do it. Shakespeare made sure everything got something great to do in it – a great little moment or a wonderful speech. He was really on a roll when he wrote this [in 1599]. You can hear it.”

Ryan’s launched his own company, the Sydney-based Sport for Jove, in 2009 with an As You Like It played in the Royal Botanic Gardens. In 2021, he presented another version at Bella Vista Farm Park in Western Sydney. La Niña weather and a COVID outbreak put paid to hopes of a full season, however.

“I have a bit of unfinished business with...