Cape Town, My City.

William Shakespeare, the most famous of all playwrights brought to the world twisted accounts of betrayal as seen in Macbeth, tragic tales of love in Romeo and Juliet and a sordid tragedy that life can turn into [Hamlet], penned down more comedies as opposed to the tragedy and drama he’s renowned for.

Dramatic and tragic are some of Shakespeare’s best plays but the celebrated author penned 17 comedies out of more than the 37 plays he wrote. His comedies manage to probe life’s inescapability’s all the while incorporating the most biting of wit.

So when Maynardvilles Open Air Theatre staged one of Shakespeare comedies – As You Like It, I anticipated a magical production that I simply had to witness. Maynardville Open Air Theater is inspired by London’s Regent Park and is one of only three outdoor theatres in the world. The theater is situated within Maynardville Park, Wynberg, Cape Town, and has earned its reputation for being one of those not to miss Cape Town activities. Apart from the fantastic plays on its theatre stage, the pre-show picnics and drinks that are held in the park are the first marks of a wonderful outing.

And so in true Maynardville Park style, I and three lovely friends enjoyed a scrumptious picnic which proceeded the play. ‘As You like it’ is considered by many to be one of Shakespeare’s greatest comedies, and the heroine, Rosalind, is praised as one of his most inspiring characters and has more lines than any of Shakespeare’s female characters. Rosalind, the daughter of a banished duke falls in love with Orlando, the disinherited son of one of the duke’s friends. When she is banished from the court by her usurping uncle, Duke Frederick, Rosalind switches genders and as Ganymede, travels with her loyal cousin Celia and the jester Touchstone to the Forest of Arden, where her father and his friends live in exile. The brilliant acting and the amazing costumes portrayed by the cast proved it to be the magical show I had anticipated it to be. It was also a reminder of “All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players, they have their exits and their entrances; and one man in his time plays many parts- “As You Like It, Act II, Scene 7.