As 2025 draws to a close, it seems that almost every theatre company in the country has unanimously decided to revisit Shakespeare’s folio – from MTC’s upbeat modern twist on Much Ado About Nothing, to Belvoir’s gloomy deep-dive into King Lear, and a surreal twist on the carnage of Titus Andronius at Theatre Works. 

The more intuitive season programmers out there, though, know this to be true: at the end of another long and draining year, it is The Comedies that we need most of all. The Melbourne Shakespeare Company understands this – every year, close to Christmas, it presents one of the more cheerful works from the Bard’s canon, with a little twist. 

Melbourne Shakespeare Company’s As You Like It. Photo © Nick Robertson

This year, the company takes us to the Forest of Arden (or rather, the “Forest of Daylesford”) via the Rose Garden inside the St Kilda Botanical Gardens for a gorgeous outdoor production of As You...