As You Like It: Ralph Fiennes directs Shakespeare comedy with 'depth'

Gloria Obianyo as Rosalind in As You Like It

'Wit glitters': Gloria Obianyo (centre) plays Rosalind, with Amber James as Celia

(Image credit: Marc Brenner)

published 28 August 2025

Over his brilliant three-decade career, Ralph Fiennes has "proven himself to be a Shakespearean actor with gravitas", said Arifa Akbar in The Guardian. Now, he's turned his hand to directing one of the Bard's greatest comedies, "As You Like It".

Fiennes isn't known for his "comic chops" and he brings a "depth to this pastoral" that "dares to venture into sombreness". It's clear he wants to avoid rushing through the text, and instead he draws emotion from scenes that are often "swallowed up in faster-paced productions".

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Obianyo's "wit glitters" as Rosalind, and she delivers her lines "as though plucked fresh from the forge", said Kris Hallett in WhatsOnStage. But it is Amber James, as Celia, who "lingers most vividly in the memory". Her character, too often overshadowed by Rosalind, dazzles in her own right here with a "performance so alive, one longs for Shakespeare to have penned her another play". Fiennes directs with a "light hand, more gardener than architect, clearing space for his actors to flower".

Irenie Forshaw is a features writer at The Week, covering arts, culture and travel. She began her career in journalism at Leeds University, where she wrote for the student newspaper, The Gryphon, before working at The Guardian and The New Statesman Group. Irenie then became a senior writer at Elite Traveler, where she oversaw The Experts column.