ARDEN ’94: SOULTON HOMECOMING – Shropshire Youth Theatre brings ‘As You Like It’ home

As You Like It Returns to its Ancestral Home

The Forest of Arden has returned to its roots.

It is a matter of documented history that the foundations of the most beloved comedy written by William Shakespeare are buried deep in the Shropshire soil. Without the influence of Soulton, the play as we know it could not exist. More than anywhere else on earth, this landscape and the lives lived upon it inspired the vision of the playwright.

Following a successful run at the Theatre Severn in March, the production now moves toward its ultimate destination.

[Book Tickets Now for the Soulton Homecoming]

Shropshire Youth Theatre is bringing As You Like It home to Soulton Hall—not as a museum piece, but as a living, breathing celebration of our own culture.

As the company officially announces:

“Shropshire Youth Theatre’s (SYT) senior production company, Shrewsbury Youth Theatre, have the great honour to present for their first appearance at Soulton Hall our unique staging of William Shakespeare’s As You Like It. Brought forward to 1994, this fresh and original take on his classic work reframes the Forest of Arden as the site of a free party, where the exiled court finds new hope and new revelry in the freedom and exhilaration of rave culture.”

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A Living Heritage

This outdoor performance honors the 16th-century traditions of Soulton Hall, the home of the monumental statesman Sir Rowland Hill. While the history is ancient, the creative direction belongs to the youth of Shropshire. By reimagining the forest through the lens of 1994, the cast transforms the woods into a site of radical joy, mirroring the energy of 1990s music culture to find freedom in exile.

The Soulton Connection

The ties between this ground and the play are definitive:

• The Moral Anchor: Sir Rowland Hill, the builder of Soulton Hall, is memorialized in the drama as “Old Sir Rowland,” the moral father-figure of the play.

• The Source Material: Property deeds establish that the primary source for the play, Rosalynde (1590), was written by Thomas Lodge. As his father held the manor of Soulton, Lodge was a “son of Soulton,” anchoring the origins of the story to this specific house.

• The Refuge: In the 1550s, the Soulton woods served as a real-world place of safety during a political emergency—a context identical to the action of the play.

The Dance of Harmony

The resolution of the play, a “Dance of Harmony,” finds its physical twin in the Soulton Pavement. This encoded floor represents a historic search for social order and a dance toward peace, echoing the resolution found in the Forest of Arden.

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Performance Details

The Homecoming Performance: Soulton Hall (Outdoors) Date: 08 May 2026 at 18:30

[Book Tickets Now for the Soulton Homecoming]

This production is kindly supported by the Co-op, Virtual Shropshire, and MA Creative. This is our story, directed and told by our youth, on Shropshire ground.