PRINCIPAL CAST: Jeremy Brett (Orlando); Derek Jacobi (Touchstone); Charles Kay (Celia); Ronald Pickup (Rosalind); Robert Stephens (Jaques).

This production ran from 3 October 1967 - 16 July 1969.  The cast list above is for the original cast, although there were cast changes over the course of the run, they are not relevant to this database. Production information taken from the National Theatre's online database.

"Ralph Koltai's plastic decor - dangling transparent tubes and dappled overhead cut-outs, and a variety of silver boots, PVC macs, and tattered regimentals - may relate to modern costume; but it is hard to see what contact they have with an Arcadia, whether sweet or bitter."  ~ Irving Wardle, "Comic results when men take over from actresses", The Times, 4 October 1967

"The National Theatre's curious production of As You Like It, in which the female roles are played by grown-up male actors (not boys) anticipates by ten days the publication of Professor [Jan] Kott's essay ('Bitter Arcadia') which is included for the first time in the second edition of Shakespeare Our Contemporary."  ~ Philip Hope-Wallace, "As You Like It at the Old Vic", The Guardian, undated clip in the National Theatre archive