William Shakespeare
As You Like It
The full script in Final Draft, Word & PDF
Rosalind disguises herself as a young man in the Forest of Arden and tests the love of Orlando in this pastoral comedy.
PDFs Only
$4.99
- ✓ Stageplay PDF (89 pp.)
- ✓ Screenplay PDF (90 pp.)
- ✓ Instant download
Full Package
$12.99
- ✓ Final Draft (.fdx)
- ✓ Microsoft Word + RTF
- ✓ Screenplay + Stageplay PDFs
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- Genre
- Comedy
- Written
- c. 1599–1600
- Setting
- Duke Frederick's court and the Forest of Arden
- Scenes
- 22
- Speaking roles
- 27
- Uncut running time
- ~2h 40m
What happens in As You Like It
Orlando, mistreated by his older brother Oliver, wrestles Duke Frederick's champion and wins the admiration of Rosalind, the daughter of the exiled Duke Senior. Frederick, who has usurped his brother, banishes Rosalind. She flees to the Forest of Arden with her cousin Celia and the court fool Touchstone, disguised as a young man named Ganymede, with Celia as Aliena.
In the forest, Orlando, himself in flight from Oliver, arrives and pins love poems to the trees. Rosalind, still disguised, offers to cure him of love by playing the part of Rosalind. Other pairs form around them, among them Silvius and Phoebe, and Touchstone and Audrey. Oliver is rescued by Orlando, changes his ways, and falls in love with Celia, and the plot resolves in a series of marriages and reconciliations.
See the formatting
The first page of Act I, exactly as it appears in the files you download.
The biggest roles
Share of the play's spoken words, counted from the script. 27 characters speak; 11 of them have under 1% of the text — natural candidates for doubling.
| Role | Share of the text | Speeches |
|---|---|---|
| Rosalind | | 677 |
| Touchstone | | 274 |
| Orlando | | 297 |
| Celia | | 274 |
| Jaques | | 223 |
| Oliver | | 146 |
| Duke Senior | | 110 |
| Phebe | | 86 |
For directors
Rosalind carries about 27 percent of the words, a very large share for a comic heroine, so the whole production depends on casting her. Touchstone, Orlando and Celia each take 10 to 11 percent. The 27 speaking roles, 11 under 1 percent, are manageable for most companies, and courtiers and foresters double naturally. The uncut estimate is 160 minutes, long for a single evening but easy to shorten.
Cutting notes
- The Hymen masque near the close is sometimes cut or simplified.
- Trim the pastoral exchanges between Silvius, Phoebe and Corin, which are the most conventional in the play.
- Thin Touchstone's longer wordplay with Audrey and William, where topical jokes are hardest to land.
For teachers
Students study the contrast between court and forest, gender and disguise, the many kinds of love, and the language of pastoral. Frequently set passages include Jaques's speech on the seven ages of man, Rosalind's and Orlando's wooing scenes, and Touchstone's comic encounters. The play is a common choice for work on cross-dressing and Elizabethan stage conventions, and for comparison with Twelfth Night.
Questions
Is this the complete, uncut text of As You Like It?
Yes. Every file contains the full play — 22 scenes and about 21,400 spoken words. Cut it yourself in Word or Final Draft to fit your running time.
What is the difference between the stageplay and screenplay layouts?
The stageplay layout indents stage directions and sets dialogue full-width, like a theatre script. The screenplay layout follows film conventions: scene headings and action flush left, character names centred, dialogue in a narrower column. Both tiers include both layouts as PDFs; the Full Package adds editable Final Draft and Word files of each.
Can I use this As You Like It script for a production or a class?
Yes. Shakespeare's plays are in the public domain, so there are no royalties to pay for staging them. Edit, stage, film or teach with these files.
How do I receive the files?
Right after checkout you land on a private download page, and the link is also emailed to you. It keeps working, so you can re-download any time.
