A Perfect Match: Shakespeare’s As You Like It Performance at Soulton Hall

“Ay, Now Am I in Arden”: A Homecoming to the Forest

It is always a joy to see As You Like It return to the grounds of Soulton Hall.

There is a deep, quiet power in watching these scenes unfold here, as the connection between the text and the estate is part of the very DNA of the house.

When The Whole Pack Theatre arrives this August to perform in the Epidaurus Court, their production serves as a celebration of a play that is truly at home in this landscape.

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The Spirit of Sir Rowland

The play finds its moral anchor in the memory of “Old Sir Rowland.” For those who know the history of this soil, he is far more than a character on a page; he is a tribute to Sir Rowland Hill, the Tudor polymath and relative of William Shakespeare who once held these lands. To witness this story at Soulton is to attend a homecoming.

It honors the ancestral link between the family of the playwright and the Hill legacy.

As Orlando declares:

“I am no villain; I am the youngest son of Sir Rowland de Boys;.. you shall hear me. .. The spirit of my father grows strong in me.”

The resonance of these words is undeniable in a place where that spirit was first fostered. It is a sentiment shared by Rosalind, who reminds us that the legacy of such a man is universal:

“My father loved Sir Rowland as his soul, / And all the world was of my father’s mind.”

This production frames the Forest of Arden as a haven for creative defiance—a theme that has resonated within the walls of Soulton for generations.

The Hall was built as a sanctuary during an era of great upheaval, designed to protect humanist thought and an independent spirit. Just as the characters in the play flee a restrictive court to find freedom in the woods, Soulton has long served as a place where art, music, and ideas could flourish.

The choice of the Epidaurus Court for this performance further emphasizes this, echoing the ancient traditions of theater as a space for healing and reflection.

“I Like This Place, and willingly could waste my time in it”

There is a unique magic to watching this story in the Epidaurus Court.

As the characters venture into their exile, the audience can look out from the performance site and see Soulton Wood standing on the horizon. This is not a distant, abstract setting; it is the very forest that has watched over this estate for centuries.

When Rosalind arrives in Arden and says, “I like this place, and willingly could waste my time in it,” she speaks for everyone who has ever found peace under these trees. To see the play with the actual wood in view creates a rare bridge between the stage and the land, making the “Forest of Arden” feel less like a stage set and more like the living, breathing sanctuary it was always meant to be.

A Sanctuary for Creative Rebellion

This production frames the forest as a haven for creative defiance—a theme that has resonated within the walls of Soulton for generations. The Hall was built as a sanctuary during an era of great upheaval, designed to protect humanist thought and an independent spirit.

Just as the characters flee a restrictive court to find freedom in the woods, Soulton has long served as a place where art, music, and ideas could flourish.

The choice of the Epidaurus Court echoes ancient traditions of theater as a space for healing and reflection.

The “Dancing Pavement” at Soulton records the dance of harmony that concludes the play, sowing this place was always intended to be a stage for reconciliation and joy.

Summer in the Forest of Arden

There is a timelessness to an August afternoon at Soulton, especially as an all-female company brings new energy to these familiar lines. The themes of finding liberty in exile and the triumph of the creative spirit are etched into the landscape itself.

• Date: Sunday, August 30

• Time: 3:00 pm – 5:00 pm

• Setting: The Epidaurus Court, Soulton Hall

We invite you to join this rebellion in the forest, where love and art are celebrated in the landscape that likely breathed life into them over four hundred years ago.