Shakespeare Electronic Conference, SHK 7.0853.  Monday, 18 November 1996.

From:           Peter L Groves <
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Date:           Monday, 18 Nov 1996 10:35:36 GMT+1000
Subject: 7.0831  Re: As You Like It
Comment:        Re: SHK 7.0831  Re: As You Like It

>> Hymen was a white-haired woman (quite
>>matronly) in the last scene of *As You Like It* in RSC prod. in
>>Stratford-upon-Avon, also summer '96.
>
>I saw that production too. The actor came up out of the audience. I thought
>that she was some little old lady who had lost her way. It was quite a shock
>when she took  part in the play. The fact that the part was played by a woman
>was of no consequence, but her entry into the play from the audience marred the
>play,  I thought.

I too witnessed this bizzarrerie; what made it even stranger was the programme
note from the director, Steven Pimlott: "I think one has to take the Folio at
its word and see this as a theophany: the god comes to earth, as in several of
Shakespeare's late plays.  Hymen is the final manifestation of Arden's magic".
[!]