Play On Podcasts Premieres "As You Like It" In a Woodstock Setting

   Play On Podcasts, is simply genius. It reimagines Shakespeare's timeless tales, featuring original musical compositions and the voices of extraordinarily gifted artists. It's remarkable that the podcast is superb in so many ways. The original music is delightful and enchanting. The acting bristles with emotive energy. The plays they re-enact are much more Laurence Olivier in Hamlet than Mel Gibson in Hamlet. The scripted plays facilitate Shakespearean humor, wit, and sarcasm to flow through them.

The latest Play On Podcasts is As You Like It. More on this later in the article.

Most important of all, the Play On Podcasts plays are scripted in modern English verse for modern audiences. Therefore, the age-old excuse that you don't like Shakespeare because you can't understand the words has vanished. 

My first play on Play On was Othello, which began in September 2023. The play was broken up into seven episodes of about 35 minutes per episode. Then, Play On releases bonus content, typically with the playwright who reimagined the Shakespearean classic in modern verse or one of the actors. The October 13, 2023 bonus content of Othello with playwright Mfoniso Udofia was inspired, with Udofia explaining how to handle the conversion of words from old English to modern language, especially the racial epithets. 

Then, Play On released the full play of Othello in one episode, which lasted over three hours.

Their last series was The Taming of the Shrew and you can listen to the entire play here. In April, the troop completed Romeo And Juliet. To quote the Prince in Act 5, Scene 3: "

For never was a story of more woe / Than this of Juliet and her Romeo." Bring tissues and don't be afraid to cry when you're commuting to work. 

In episode one of every play, Play On recommends that listeners use headphones or earbuds for the best listening experience. It's a recommendation I urge you to follow. The plays are rich in sounds that can captivate your ears. There is the dialogue -- crisp and understandable. The background sounds -- horses, wagons, merchants, nature -- can layer you into the play like being an avatar in a video game.

The show has a voice and text consultant, an equipment and recording engineer, a sound effects assistant, and a production assistant. That's a lot of resources and a lot of money. As a listener, you hear that excellence.

 This show is where theater meets podcasts, combining the modern-day audio phenomenon with the power of live performance. Play On Podcasts is an epic audio adventure reimagining timeless tales, featuring original music compositions and the voices of extraordinarily gifted artists. Past seasons included Macbeth, A Midsummer Night's Dream, and Love Labor's Lost. 

Now, let's prepare you for As You Like It.

Set in Woodstock during the sixties, it upends the rules of romance, gender, nature and politics.

Set in Woodstock during the sixties’ “Summer of Love,” David Ivers’ translation of Shakespeare’s As You Like It upends the rules of romance, gender, nature and politics in a tale of life’s joy and confusion. Directed by Kim Martin Cotten with original songs and music by Lindsay Jones. 

Check it out. Play On Podcasts brings the theater to your ears. If you're a woman, As You Like It has been considered an early feminist play, and the elaborate gender reversals in the story are of particular interest to modern critics interested in gender studies. If you're a man, then listen, enjoy, and put it on your online dating profile.