The Rose Presents AS YOU LIKE IT, Now thru Oct 26

Pastoral comedy is so 1590s. Reputed for challenging the conventions and confines of classical theatre, The Rose, Bankside presents a dark adaptation of As You Like It by William Shakespeare, from today, 1st to 26th October.

When Rosalind and Orlando are forced to flee the court, they believe they will find sanctuary in the Forest of Arden. But their sense of security is deceiving with the court citizens on constant watch, and their game of love plays out like a battle for survival.

Directed by Jessica Ruano - who returns to The Rose following her internationally-acclaimed tour of Sappho...in 9 fragments - this production questions the motives of the characters who woo their lovers in disguise and evokes suspicions of romantic quandaries too hastily resolved.

"I love theatre that is evidently inspired by the surroundings in which it is created," says Ruano. "The Rose Theatre is no lush Forest of Arden, and I therefore had no desire to make it so: instead its muddy mounds and dusty walls and watery plains have inspired a forest of a different nature, and one that I am keen to explore."

Tickets are £12 (£10 concessions), and available by calling the box office at 0207 261 9565, visiting wegottickets.com, or emailing info@rosetheatre.org.uk.