As You Like It | Shakespeare's Globe | ★★★☆☆

For anyone still sceptical that Shakespeare can be fun, The Globe's latest production of As You Like It offers an ideal first step in Bard rehabilitation.

The play follows the heroine Rosalind as she flees to the Forest of Arden after being exiled from the royal court. Compared to most Shakespeare, As You Like It is light on plot, and it compensates wholeheartedly in silliness – a quality the Globe's 2026 production leans into fully. Forest men carrying around carcasses, a clown duelling in his knickers, and a casual, non-plot-essential fight with a lion that takes place offstage are just some of the details audiences are asked to swallow, no questions asked.

The staging of Sean Holmes and Charlie Josephine's production opens in the royal court and is striking for its bareness, with an intriguing backdrop made up only of giant blank, framed canvases. With backstage entrances and exits blocked off, the cast – flamboyantly clad in Bridgerton-style finery (think pastel satins and plenty of frilly collars) – are instead forced to flounce onto the stage directly from the yard, the standing area that surrounds the stage at the Globe's open-air, timber-framed recreation of the original Elizabethan playhouse. Period accuracy, for whatever mishmash of a 17th-18th century court they are going for, is not strictly the point: designer Laura Hunt deliberately created a mongrel mix ("there is no clock in the forest" after all), with overall aesthetic impact the main concern. And it works. Wobbling about in comically large hooped skirts, Rosalind and Celia posture before the canvases as though they are the pictures being framed – no doubt an intentional nod to their function in the court.

All of this changes, though. Tossed out of the royal court by Act 2, Rosalind and Celia quickly don disguises, grab the court fool for entertainment and venture into the forest, where the scenery begins to transform.

A set painted live every night

As we enter the Forest of Arden and the courtiers give way to shepherds and milkmaids, the blankness of the backdrop is disrupted by the sprouting of trees. This is thanks not to high-tech effects but to actual artists (signalled, naturally, by berets) who frantically paint the set live every night to form the forest backdrop. It is a satisfying gimmick, but a gimmick nonetheless. "This is the Forest of Arden," Touchstone announces with comic effect, gesturing to the scenery after the first couple of trees have been haphazardly sketched; though this reviewer admits to being a little underwhelmed by the final masterpiece too (it needed more trees).

Where the production truly shines, however, is in the music. Featuring five songs written by the Bard himself, As You Like It is Shakespeare's most musical play, and this quality is masterfully drawn out by musical director Katie Richardson. For this production, the songs have been reimagined in a folksy, trad style that lends a frantic, frenetic energy to the forest scenes – a fitting choice given that Arden draws on the pastoral, folk-song traditions familiar to Shakespeare's audiences. Richardson herself lords over the set from above throughout, peeking over the canvases from her balcony perch while wildly banging on the drums – a truly mesmerising addition to the cast. Lola Shalam (Rosalind), Gracie Oddie-James (Celia) and Jonnie Broadbent (Touchstone) all shine as the leading trio as well.

Overall, this is a fun, ridiculous production to close out the Globe's summer season, even if it lacks a little oomph, as well as emotional resonance. But, as Celia says of the Forest, so too is this reviewer's love of the Globe: "I like this place, and willingly waste my time in it."

As You Like It runs at Shakespeare's Globe until 25 October.