The Inland Stage (formerly Murrieta Repertory Theatre) presents As You Like It, opening Oct. 16 at the Esplanade Arts Center.  Directed and adapted by Yvonne Flack, the production takes place in post-Industrialized England.

As You Like It will be performed at the Esplanade Arts Center in San Jacinto, October 16 through 25, Friday, Saturday and Sunday evenings at 8 p.m. Tickets are $15. Information: www.inlandstage.org

“The play deals with many of the same themes that authors of the Romantic period were dealing with—the removal of man from nature and the loss of balance and harmony between man and nature and man and man. As You Like It is a play about returning to the natural order of things—brother has turned against brother and lovers have become so consumed by the passion and lust of wooing, that they have forgotten the reality and necessity for the carefully balanced harmony of love between the sexes,” Flack said.

It is this need to restore harmony that prompts the exodus of all of the major characters to the forest of Arden, and in a post-Industrialized setting this need for a return to nature is made even more imperative.

“Contemporary Shakespearean dramaturgy is a delicate balancing act between fidelity to his words and fidelity to the audience for which you are performing,” Flack said. “In my adaptation of As You Like It, I strove to maintain as much of the original text as possible, but, inevitably, one comes across archaisms that make the text inaccessible to modern audiences.”

Flack’s approach to these tricky situations is to always maintain the meter, on which so much of the poetry of Shakespeare is based, but modify the word to a contemporary one of equivalent meaning.

Flack began her love affair with Shakespeare as a child and went on to major in literature at the University of Redlands where she has also performed his works on stage. From the University of Redlands Flack went on to receive her master’s degree in Literature and Film, with an emphasis in Renaissance literature, from the Claremont Graduate University.  Flack is currently working toward her PhD in English at CGU, where her research interests have become more focused on international productions of Shakespeare’s works.

Presenting Shakespeare in the Inland Empire offers many unique challenges and rewards. “Many people have this sort of ‘they say this is culture so I should see it’ attitude toward Shakespeare,” Flack said. “Many go to shows expecting that they will not understand them or that they will find no relevance within the framework of the contemporary world they live in. What I hope to present through my work with Shakespeare is his works’ deep roots within our culture—to present Shakespeare as, in the words of Jan Kott, what he is and will remain, ‘Our contemporary.’”

The cast of As You Like It includes many seasoned Shakespearean actors from the Inland Valley Region. The character of Rosalind will be played by Vanessa Downs, an experienced Shakespearean actress who portrayed the clown in a local production of King Lear earlier this summer. Darcie Flansburg, Flack’s cofounder of the Redlands Regional Players and another experienced Shakespearean performer, will join the cast as the sassy Phoebe. Her past roles have been wide and varied. Last summer she portrayed Sir Andrew Aguecheek in Shakespeare in the Vines’ production of Twelfth Night, effectively convincing more than one audience member that she was, in fact, a man, albeit a very foppish one. Dane Johnston will also be adding his talents to the mix as Touchstone the Clown. His past roles have included Edgar in King Lear and the titular role in the Redlands Regional Players’ flagship production of Hamlet, directed by Flack and Darcie Flansburg.