Under The Greenwood Tree is a workshopped piece of theatre created by the Drama Club at Vista Nova High School under the facilitation of teaching artists Lauren Bates and Keenan Rishworth. It was presented at the Fugard Theatre as part of the Shakespeare Schools Festival in March 2020. The piece combines songs and excerpts from As You Like It with the original writings of the high school performers to create a montage of thematic musings unified by the narrative of Orlando’s encounter with Duke Senior in the Forest of Arden. The students had already explored the full story of As You Like It, as the original intention was for them to perform this at the festival. For various reasons, this was no longer ideal, but remaining in the Forest of Arden certainly was.
Living in South Africa (and the world in general) these young people have much going on around and within them that is traumatic, anxiety-ridden, perplexing and painful. The violence and horror they face on a daily basis, and the helplessness and hopelessness that accompany this, can lead to their acting out or withdrawing in destructive ways. Theatre is one of the mechanisms through which much that is troubling can be processed, and through which they can gain a voice, a sense of autonomy, a feeling of being physically present, and the assurance that comes from being part of a nurturing community. These valuable benefits are enhanced when the students’ own utterances are included in a performance piece, as each individual is empowered through the celebration of their unique voice and the airing of their inner world.
Near the beginning of the workshop process, the students were given a set of quotations from the play as writing stimuli, with space beneath each to write. They found a comfortable place on their own, under trees in the sunny Friday afternoon bliss of the school yard. This sense of tranquility as they wrote was essential to the process, and also mimicked the pastoral aesthetic of As You like It. They needed to set aside the stresses of school and home, and enter into a contemplative space, a space to breathe, where they could reflect deeply and creatively, experience their feelings authentically, and thoroughly think something through. The following quotations were given: “Your gentleness shall force / More than your force move us to gentleness”(2.7.103); “One man in his time plays many parts”(2.7.145); “Most friendship is feigning, most loving mere folly” (2.7.186); “Life is but a flower”(5.3.29); and “This our lives, exempt from public haunt / Finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, / Sermons in stones and good in everything” (2.1.15-17). The responses ranged from pithy haiku, passionate speeches, deeply personal free verse and rhyme-bound poetry, assertive rap style poetry, and short, sage statements. These were then edited by the facilitators and woven into a new theatre piece.
The central theme explored in Under The Greenwood Tree is how nature is truthful, even when harsh, which contrasts with the masks of human civilisation and its meaningless, often dangerous, posturing. This theme is linked directly to the setting of the play as the entire play takes place outdoors, under the greenwood tree, beside a brook, with two rocks upon which various characters sit at different times. The setting is referenced directly, as this play draws to a close, when Duke Senior states how he finds: “tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, sermons in stones, and good in everything.” The ensemble then echoes this statement in unison as the play ends. Thus the setting and theme are intricately linked. All around the characters - the tree, brook and stones - are the very elements that have been imbuing them with wisdom. There is a conversation happening between nature and characters. Adding to this conversation is the constant sound of twittering birds and running water in the background, bringing the audience in closer contact with nature’s lessons, its wisdom gently whispering all around them.
The play begins with the titular song “Under the Greenwood Tree” sung by the cast, which immediately sets up the theme of being in nature away from “enemies” and “ambition”. It is only the bad weather that can harm them, and it is an honest harm that contrasts with the underhanded harm at court, reinforcing the over-arching theme of the play. After a relaxed opening, the tranquility is disturbed by Orlando charging in, demanding food from the peaceful forest-dwellers. The Duke advises him that gentleness has more power than force, and Orlando is completely disarmed and ashamed of his show of violence. He is welcomed into their community and this act of compassion is then followed by reflections on the concept of kindness being stronger than aggression. For example, one of the performers points out sorrowfully that: “We use force against the more gentle-spirited, just to get what we want” and another suggests that: “Being kind takes no more energy than being forceful, so why not use a more gentle approach?” The play then turns to Jacques’s iconic speech “All the World’s a Stage” which is divided amongst the ensemble, one person per age. Following this is a reflection on the different stages of life and the various challenges and roles that we play. Lessons on making the most of your life are uncovered in statements such as: “You’re birthed to die: What you do with the time in between is up to you” and “You do things to leave imprints for the future so others can be inspired to help the world and make it wonderful.”
After these reflections on making the most of life is another song, this time with a more sombre tone. The opening verse:
Blow, blow, thou winter wind
Thou art not so unkind
As man’s ingratitude;
Thy tooth is not so keen,
Because thou art not seen,
Although thy breath be rude
highlights how human cruelty exceeds harsh weather, further bolstering the central theme. The key phrase of the chorus, “most friendship is feigning, most loving mere folly” was pulled out as a stimulus. It resonated very readily with the students, who are constantly travailing the treacherous terrain of love and friendship. There had even been incidents of betrayal and hurt between members of the group that seemed to find some sense of resolution in their poetic expressions. However, they didn’t merely dwell on betrayal in these poems, but found positive counterpoints to this impulse, with declarations such as: “Being deceitful isn’t peaceful / Being kind is glory to mind” and directives such as: “Be with people who’ll accept you and honour your virtue / Rather than people who will just degrade and hurt you”. The final piece of this section was written by a student who has had difficulties in making and retaining true friends. The poem was dedicated to Keenan Rishworth, one of the teaching artists, and expressed the wonder and joy in finding a true friend. The final two stanzas of their poem conclude:
I can say
As someone
You might call
A friend
You,
Opening your arms,
To me
Without any doubt
Are warm
The poem picks up the tentative manner in which this young person approaches friendships. Being hurt and betrayed countless times has caused them to struggle with trust. In their poem they slowly and steadily grow in certainty that this person they are writing about is in fact a true friend who will not abandon them. They conclude that this friend is indeed true and “warm”. After this poignancy, there is a moment of silence, immediately followed by a complete mood change with the song “It was a Lover and His Lass”. This is performed with beat boxing and drumming on the boxes, creating an upbeat vibe. The ensemble sing the choruses and one performer belts out the verses in a jazzy style. A cheerful mood permeates. The next stimulus text comes from this song and it speaks to the brevity of life: “life is but a flower”. The students communicate hard-hitting truths about life’s transience through lines such as: “life is but a flower. It grows, each petal unfurling in the sun. And once they’ve grown, they die”. They also reflect on the journey of this growth and what is gained along the way:
We are born on the earth in the form of a rose bud, slowly opening up to the world and becoming a flower. Each petal is a form of emotion or task we face. As we bloom, we face it all. The stress from school; the fights at home; we keep living through life and all its changes.
Pairing the Shakespearean verse with personal experience in the line “the stress from school; the fights at home” gives this student a sense of overcoming these difficulties and merging her struggles into a broader poetic narrative, through which she empowers herself. She is also empowered through a paper flower that she holds, peeling off petals as she talks about the passage towards death. This gives her a tangible connection to this image of life unravelling, helping her confront this hard truth without fear. After her poem, another student delivers a haiku describing a gardener slashing at flowers and the ensemble all become the flowers, dropping to the ground. The actor playing Duke Senior then emerges from the shadows and begins to deliver the final Shakespeare text of the play. It is his iconic speech, made the first time we encounter him in the woods with his merry men in As You Like It. This speech thoroughly reiterates the central theme of nature being honestly harsh while humans are cunningly cruel. The Duke describes the harsh weather endured when you live outdoors, concluding that: “This is no flattery: these are counsellors / That feelingly persuade me what I am.” The pelting elements confront him with his frailty, whereas humans flatter in order to deceive. He finishes with the statement previously discussed: “And this our life exempt from public haunt / Finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, / Sermons in stones and good in everything.” This is the final stimulus and leads into the last collection of poetry, including a piece presented by Orlando which articulates the transformation he has experienced in the woods:
I walked into a forest in which I’d never been before
When I walked out of the forest I felt transformed, something more
I looked at a tree
a gentle pillar of the community
I looked at a stone
Untouched by the fickle thoughts of others, bold alone
I looked at a stream
Adventuring into the unknown, following a dream
I came out of the forest
Gentle, bold and adventurous
A tree, a stone, a stream
This poem summarises lessons that Orlando, and by implication the cast and audience, has learnt through their time in the Forest of Arden: the concepts of gentleness being a more powerful force than aggression; extracting oneself from the fickle influence of false people and institutions; and the adventure of life, its seven acts and its brevity that requires us to savour it. These lessons are linked with the tree, stones and stream of the Duke’s speech and Orlando now affirms the truth of their wisdom. Before the final reiteration of “this our lives” by the full cast, another actor comes forward and says: “If you listen to all the music of nature, it can heal your body, mind and heart.” The music within the magic of nature is emphasised, which links with the use of songs in the play and the healing power that nature’s melodies can have. The play ends with the cast forming a line at the front of the stage along the banks of the running brook. They sing the opening song again:
come hither, come hither, come hither,
here shall you see no enemy
but winter and rough weather
inviting the audience to “come hither”, to enter their own Forest of Arden, a space of meditation, reflection and positive change. Come hither ...
