In Shakespeare’s plays, the forest is always a magical place, where identity itself becomes more fluid. The idea of casting off one’s clothes to don an altogether new identity is a theme in several of the comedies, but perhaps never to the same degree as in As You Like It, which is currently playing at Washington, D.C.’s Folger Theatre. The play follows Rosalind (Lindsay Alexandra Carter), daughter of a banished duke, who is forced to flee to the forest of Arden dressed as a man after attracting the disfavor of her uncle. There she and her friend, the duke’s daughter Celia (Antoinette Robinson), encounter a host of characters, including the banished duke and Orlando, the son of the banished duke’s right hand man. It’s a tale of mistaken identity and misadventure.

Like most Shakespearean comedies, it ends in a quadruple wedding.