As You Like It at Shakespeare's Globe: canvases painted live and a forest drawn in charcoal
Shakespeare's Globe has mounted a Summer 2026 production of As You Like It, co-directed by Sean Holmes and Charlie Josephine, running at the Globe Theatre until 25 October (The Guardian).
The production sets Shakespeare's comedy in an eighteenth-century court that gives way to the Forest of Arden, described by the Globe as "a joyous comedy bursting with love, magic and music" (Shakespeare's Globe). Designer Paul Wills has filled the stage with large blank canvases that, during each performance, are drawn on live with charcoal illustrations of trees — the forest literally emerging in front of the audience as the play unfolds (WhatsOnStage).
Lola Shalam leads the cast as Rosalind, Shakespeare's cross-dressing heroine who flees courtly persecution for the freedom of the forest. Charlie Josephine — doubling as co-director and performer — plays Orlando, the wrestle-winning object of Rosalind's affection. Gracie Oddie-James plays Celia, Rosalind's loyal cousin and travelling companion. Jonnie Broadbent takes on Touchstone, the Fool whose wit cuts through the pastoral romance (WhatsOnStage).
The supporting cast includes Peter Bourke as Adam, Orlando's elderly servant; Molly Madigan as Phoebe, the shepherd who falls for a disguised Rosalind; and Busa Wickramasuriya as Silvius, the hopelessly devoted shepherd who pines for Phoebe (WhatsOnStage).
Holmes and Josephine previously collaborated on Cowbois, which ran at the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Royal Court in 2024 (Shakespeare's Globe). Their As You Like It marks a return to that creative partnership, this time on the Globe's open-air stage. The venue has also scheduled a "Globe Talks" event with the two directors to discuss the production (Shakespeare's Globe).
The Globe, a reconstruction of the Elizabethan playhouse for which Shakespeare wrote, seats roughly 1,500 and operates partly as a open-air venue — meaning the elements are part of the bargain for groundlings standing in the yard and seated patrons alike.
What makes this staging stand out is the live-drawing conceit. Rather than a fixed forest set, Wills's design turns the act of creation into a performance within the performance. The charcoal trees appear and multiply across the run, so no two shows share exactly the same painted world.
Photography of the production is by Marc Brenner (WhatsOnStage). The play continues at the Globe Theatre on London's Bankside through to late October.
