Published Winter 2025

"FOREVER AND A DAY" is the length of time a love-sick Orlando vows to hold on to Rosalind in As You Like It, a stretch comparable to the duration Shakespeare's play—and its many romantic articulations—has been clasped to the hearts of its audiences.

The story begins with turmoil and quickly shifts to opportunity as characters move from the prickle and prattle of the royal court to the serene seclusion of the Forest of Arden. Here in the woods, Orlando—who has already been struck by love at first sight—and Rosalind—his love, now disguised as another, unbeknownst to him—ponder the various angles of love as they amble down the path toward the earlier mentioned "forever."

Orlando and Rosalind are a favourite among Shakespeare's romantic pairings. Theirs is a love boasting glittery destiny, honest affection and that ever-elusive relationship-rendering solvent: substance. To portray such a connection between two people, one akin to a pair of rare-earth magnets inextricably pulled toward one another, is no small feat but As You Like It director Chris Abraham is up to the task. "A great challenge in Shakespeare's plays is to kind of really get inside all of the things that set somebody up for the perfect moment when they see a character, and you understand and know why they are the right person for the other character," he says. In the director's view, the audience must, above all else, "understand why" the world would crack in two if these two individuals could not be together for the payout of their union to land like the force of nature that it should.

In this season's production of As You Like It, this tremendous lift lies in the trust of actors Christopher Allen and Sara Farb, who respectively play the roles of the earnest Orlando and impish Rosalind. With Abraham as their guide, the actors will endeavour to embody what it means to seemingly divine attachment—also affectionately known as love at first sight. Abraham's cryptic explanation as to how they plan to stage the ethereal makes the play and its promise of heartskipping romance all the more enticing. "It's about the circumstances of the moment," he says. "Puzzling out how all of these chance encounters sort of feel meant to be."

Caught between heavy burdens part and parcel with their birth and the happiness they both see climbing into grasp, Orlando and Rosalind are not just two players in a game of love, as the director points out, they are each a testament to the optimistic possibility for change. "A fundamental thing that's going on in this play is that it celebrates and uplifts individuals willing to undergo transformations around their point of view and their expectations," asserts Abraham. And by doing so, they "make the world as they like it."

In preparation for their roles as unforgettable sweethearts, Allen and Farb chat with each other about early career starts, Shakespeare and finding their way into a character.

IN CONVERSATION

Christopher (laughing): So, Sara, how did you get into theatre?

Sara: I've been doing theatre my whole godly life. (Laughing.) I got my first professional job at age nine, and from there I was sort of doing something or other in acting—whether it was professional or community—pretty much my entire youth. Basically, throughout my life, acting has been sort of a mainstay. It was one of those things that just kind of made sense to me. And I do not come from a family of performers at all.

Christopher: Nobody else in my family is in the arts, either.

Sara: I'm the only person, really for miles, in my family who does anything like this. My mother, just retired, was an English teacher for like 40-something years, so my exposure to Shakespeare was pretty consistent throughout my life. It's just always, like, existed... in my periphery and also main focus... which kind of feels a little bit boring, like there's not a special thing that happened. It just sort of feels like it's always been my reality. What about you, how did you get into acting?

Christopher: Well (laughing), let me choose the story I want to tell. I grew up Anglican, and we would go to the church all the time. And so my very first time on stage was when I was four years old, probably not paying attention at all. And then in middle school I started to do some school plays, and then in high school I did plays, and it was actually my high school drama teacher who asked, "What are you doing for post-secondary?" I was like, "I have no idea," and he said, "You have to do this... act."

Sara: And that was it?

Christopher: Yeah, then I started to pursue it, and my parents were extremely supportive. My mom's brothers were football players. They were in the CFL, and my aunt was in the RCMP for a bit and also did some basketball, so people in my family haven't done "traditional" sort of jobs, and maybe that's why my parents were more open to me pursuing theatre and being an actor. They supported me throughout the process.

Sara: And you studied theatre and performance in school, right?

Christopher: Yes, York University. My ego was so huge! I remember thinking, "I'm going to be so amazing as soon as I graduate. The world's my oyster." And then I graduated and I was like, "Where are my agents? Why isn't everybody lining up to sign me?" And you know... I got humbled real quick (laughing). I found my love for it then, though... because in school I was engrossed in art and in creativity the entire time, but when I left it was the real world. And I had to make money so that I could act. Yeah, that's kind of how I got into it.

Sara: What about Shakespeare? When did you get into those plays?

Christopher: University. I mean, we learned in high school (laughing), but I didn't understand anything.

Sara: No, it's so hard. I did Shakespeare for the first time when I was 15. I did A Midsummer Night's Dream in High Park, I played a fairy, and then I didn't do it again until Stratford. Then I did a lot of Shakespeare.

Christopher: I did love doing Shakespeare in university, when I finally started to understand what was on the page because the professors had a love for it, and so they shared that love with us. And then I taught with Shakespeare in Action [now Crossroad Theatre] for a year, or maybe a couple years.

Sara: Nice.

Christopher: I guess that was about eight years ago. But yeah, last year was the first time I've done Shakespeare since then, in Cymbeline.

Sara: It is so nice to know what you're saying. It just makes it so much more enjoyable, I find (laughing). Doing Shakespeare is like being given the opportunity to study and dive into it.

Christopher: It's a different way of reading it.

Sara: You get to experience it from the inside, in a way... it feels a bit rare.

Christopher: And you're helping the audience understand it.

Sara: It's sort of like there's a barrier between the full understanding. I have to actively fight against trying to make it clearer for them because I find what happens when I do that is it makes it muddier in the caretaking... it strips the line of the truer meaning, the truer experience of the character delivering the line. We've all seen many attempts at sort of layering on relevance and meaning to Shakespeare as opposed to—

Christopher: Speaking.

Sara: Exactly, yeah. I think it's just about knowing the words deeply enough and precisely knowing the many angles of what you're saying.

Christopher: I agree. And it's beautiful. Shakespeare can feel like it's another language. It's so old (laughing). But if I can understand what I'm saying and my intention behind it, then I will trust that the audience will understand that, too.

Sara: What about As You Like It, do you know the intention behind your character's words yet?

Christopher: I don't know yet. I find things out mostly in rehearsals.

Sara: Of course.

Christopher: I can sit with the text by myself, but two heads are always better than one, I think. My way into a play and my character is through the help of others, you know?

Sara: Yeah, absolutely. It's like that for me, too. The prep for our play is really just in its infancy. I've known As You Like It but not like, deeply. And so there's a lot to get to know, not just about my own character but about everybody. It's a very ensemble feeling cast, as far as character, size and presence. So many things inform the other, too much decision-making about a person feels premature. But there is an obvious attractive quality certainly about Rosalind.

Christopher: What about her stands out?

Sara: I have a general understanding and admire who she is and what she does in the play, how she expresses herself. She has a genuinely recognizable wit and ease with language. She's the kind of person who, if written 500 years later, still would feel like an appealing kind of person.

Christopher: You're a fan!

Sara: It's certainly an exciting prospect to engage with a character that doesn't really come along a lot in Shakespeare. I think she's quite singular in Shakespeare... which is daunting, but also really exciting.

Christopher: When I am working on a play, I read it every day leading up to opening. I'll read it a few times before rehearsals, too. I read it once, just to read it, and then the second time to understand it and then the third time to look for specific things throughout the script. Then during rehearsal, I'm reading it all the time, over and over and over again, and then I put it down once we open.

Sara: So do I. Right after opening.

Christopher: I will go back to it sometimes for inspiration, or if I'm losing thoughts in places. But after opening, I'm like, "This is me now: this character."

Sara: I relate to that a lot. It's hard to memorize. It's very hard. And the older I get, when people ask me "How did you do that?" I'm like, "I don't know" (laughs)... it happens eventually. But my comprehension of what I'm saying is improved by speaking it.

Christopher: And then there's the fear of "Oh, no, it's gone. It's gone."

Sara: Of course.

Christopher: It's happened to me before… it's kind of thrilling (laughing).

Sara: What happened?

Christopher: It's like two sides of the same coin, you're on stage and the next thing you're about to say is gone, and it's just, like, never going to come back to you—it's not... never. But you know the storyline. You know your character arc, the circumstances—everything. And so, I mean, sometimes you have to improvise (laughing).

Sara: Figure it out, land somewhere, get on with it.

Christopher: The good thing about an ensemble piece is that there will be people there to help you through it.

Sara: We sure will.

Christopher: But it is a fear, of course, making a mistake... especially something that you've fallen in love with and that you care about, too. You want to get it perfect. But the thing about acting is that it can't be perfect because you're portraying humanity, which is imperfect.

Sara: And then there's the nerves before a show. Those never, ever, ever go away, never! It's like, suddenly a curtain goes up and you realize you're on stage.

Christopher: And then the sweats happen to you and it's like, "I've never sweated like this before!"

Sara: Like it's ice cold and then fire (laughing). It's really something.

Christopher: But then, at the same time, it's so fun. Which is why I think I keep going back.

Sara: Yeah, we're junkies. We're adrenaline junkies.

Christopher: Yes.

Sara: And now our next fix, As You Like It with Chris Abraham.

Christopher: I love that man. I think we're in really good hands.

Sara: I've never worked with Chris before this, really. I was a non-appearing understudy in a production of A Midsummer's Night Dream he did in my second season. I admire everything that I see of his. He's so sensitive to the whole picture. He has trust in the actors that he's working with. I feel like he was really intentional about the people he chose to play the parts, and I think it's because he trusts the things that we bring. And Rosalind and Orlando are quite famous roles to be tackling and opinions come with that..

Christopher: Yeah. And it's also technically difficult. It's poetry being performed as people speaking regularly in their day-to-day life, you know? It's a challenge.

Sara: It's a challenge. Yeah.

Christopher: And I don't go watch what's been done before, because I will be coloured by it in my opinion, my approach, everything. Then it's like, "Oh, am I trying to be like this person?" The more of myself I can bring to a part, the better it's going to be, I think, for everybody.

Sara: It'll be great to have Chris share where he thinks our relationship moves and starts, and to add in our own ideas. Part of our job is to collaborate with him in that sense.

Christopher: I'm excited for it.