Bryn Boice (CFA’16) addressing the company of As You Like It. Photo by Dave Green

Theatre

Commonwealth Shakespeare Company Stages As You Like It on the Boston Common This Summer

BU alum Bryn Boice serves as the free show’s text coach

The Commonwealth Shakespeare Company (CSC) is taking up its annual residence on the Boston Common this summer with a timely comedy—and it’s free. 

One of the city’s most beloved theater institutions, attracting roughly 50,000 people to its performances each year, the CSC is staging As You Like It from July 23 to August 10. The play’s story of finding community after exile by an authoritarian government makes it a fresh and relevant play to work on right now, says the production’s text coach Bryn Boice.

“It’s a comedy for summer,” says Boice (CFA’16), who holds an MFA in directing from the College of Fine Arts as well as a master’s certificate in arts administration from Metropolitan College. “And so, not only in terms of timeliness, but in terms of the romantic comedy spirit of the play, it felt like it was perfect for this moment this summer.”

The Shakespeare play, written in either 1599 or 1600, begins with its characters being exiled by a power-hungry ruler, leading them to find a new family and a new home. They also find freedom, wisdom, and love in this romantic comedy, which celebrates human nature and “the beauty of creating one’s own sanctuary, even in the face of great tyranny,” according to the show’s synopsis.

“After the world ends, how do you find your community and how do you create your living space?” asks Boice, CSC associate assistant director and director of education and training. “So the comedy of it comes out of people trying to forge a new life in strange circumstances.”

As the text coach, Boice guides actors to speak the actual lines in the play—so whether their jaws are too tense or their breathing is wrong, she helps with “holistic work around the words,” as she explains it. In the production’s later stages, she takes notes on diction and is the first to help if the audience cannot hear properly. And making sure the audience can hear and understand the work is part of the production’s broader mission: access. 

The show is designed to make Shakespeare, and live theater in general, accessible. Boice says that CSC’s founding artistic director Steven Maler always finds a compelling modern lens for the Bard’s plays. “This is not Shakespeare like pumpkin hose and ruff,” she says. “This is using Shakespeare’s original text, but putting a modern spin on it so that people don’t feel alienated.”

Every performance is open captioned, and on certain nights the performances will have ASL interpreters, audio descriptions, and tactile tours (find those dates here).

The show is free to the public, and spectators can bring snacks, blankets, and chairs or can rent a lawn chair for $10. For those who want a bougier experience, the Friends Section has premium seating available for a donation of $100 or more. These donations help the company continue its free performances. Friends Section seats are right in front of the stage, although free seating is also available at the front. 

“You can bring a blanket and sit down on the lawn and have a couple of hours of really excellent, stimulating entertainment,” Boice says. “That’s why [people] should come.”

The Commonwealth Shakespeare Company’s production of As You Like It runs from July 23 through August 10 at the Boston Common Parkman Bandstand, across from the AMC Loews Boston Common Movie Theater on Tremont Street. Performances are Tuesday through Sunday at 8 pm, with matinees on Saturday, August 2 and 9, at 1 pm. Admission is free. Chair rentals are $10, and Friend Section seats are available for a donation of $100 or more.