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In 71 years King’s College has never missed putting on a Shakespeare production.

A flood didn’t stop them. The Vietnam War didn’t stop them. And, this year, the coronavirus won’t stop them from putting on a suspend-your-disbelief show with a feel-good ending.

“It’s a comedy, and everything is played up,” said Gabriel Gillespie, of Forty Fort, who plays Oliver, a villainous older brother in William Shakespeare’s “As You Like It.”

If you see the show — virtually, via computer or other device, not in person — you can just relax and accept the fact that, apparently for no reason, Oliver hates his younger brother, Orlando.

And, well, apparently motivated by greed, Duke Frederick hates his brother, Duke Senior, enough to usurp his wealth and position.

Duke Senior, by the way, is not too upset about being pushed out of his home.

“He’s happy go lucky,” said King’s history professor Brian Pavlac, who portrays Duke Senior. “He enjoys living out in the forest, out with the trees, with nature. He feels sorry for the deer he has to kill (for food) but he’s glad to be away from the envy of the court, away from all the pomp and fussing.”

Soon Duke Senior, who reportedly “lives like Robin Hood,” will have company in the woods.

His daughter, Rosalind, who had been living in the household of her uncle, will be told to leave. And her cousin, Celia, who doesn’t have to leave, will willingly join Rosalind in exile.

“They’re cousins but they choose to be sisters,” said Theodora Abah from Lawrenceville, Ga., who portrays Celia.

Suspecting they would not be safe out in the world because “beauty provoketh thieves sooner than gold,” Celia disguises herself as a poor shepherdess called Aliena and Rosalind disguises herself as a young man named Ganymede.

They venture forth with Touchstone, the jester.

“He has fun,” said Chip Lemheney from West Chester, who plays the jester. “He goes out with Rosalind and Celia when they disguise themselves and, to him, that’s a riot.”

Always up for a game of wits, Touchstone enjoys the opportunity to interact with a shepherd named Corin. “They banter, and he loves to be able throw something to someone and have them throw it back,” Lemheney said.

Meanwhile Rosalind, disguised as Ganymede, encounters Orlando, with whom she is already acquainted and, in fact, in love.

In her guise as Ganymede, Rosalind has a chance to advise Orlando on how best to woo a lady.

“She can teach him how to be a better lover to her,” said Leah Peters of Edwardsville, who plays Rosalind to John Barrera’s Orlando.

Complicating matters, a shepherdess named Phebe is in love with — you guessed it — Ganymede. And, Phebe scorns the adoration that a determined shepherd named Silvius keeps offering her.

“She wants absolutely nothing to do with Silvius,” said Mikayla Acree, from Parsippany, N.J., who plays Phebe.

Somehow, by the end of the play, all of these romantic entanglements will smooth out. Mass wedding, anyone?

As for the villainous characters, they will undergo sudden changes of heart.

“There’s not much motivation for the changes,” Pavlac said.

“It’s like you meet a priest and he says ‘you’re good now’ and then it’s like ‘well, I’m good,” Gillespie added.

King’s alum Brandi George is directing the light-hearted play, and expects people will enjoy watching as Shakespeare “seems to be poking fun at relationships.”

She knows that without live audience members, the cast will face extra challenges.

“Not having the audience to play off,” she said, “we’ll be in a vacuum.”

But she wants to record the show continuously and in order, without the retakes that you might expect in a movie. “I am hoping we do it <em>once,</em>” she said. “I say that now,” she added with a laugh.

The cast expects to record the show within the next few weeks. A period of editing will follow, and it should be ready for release in May.

King’s College has a long tradition of inviting area high schools to use its annual Shakespeare production as a learning tool, and associate professor of theater Dave Reynolds said that will continue this year.

“We might have a Power Point ‘Jeopardy’ game,” he said.

Reynolds, who plays a wrestler named Charles in the production, is grateful King’s has been able to perform Shakespeare year after year.

“Shakespeare wrote these plays to be seen, not read,” he said, admitting he didn’t appreciate the Bard’s work when he was reading plays in high school but “fell in love” with it when he saw a college production.

On a final note, cast member Barrera, who came all the way from California to study theatre at King’s, said that even if the department for some reason wasn’t able to put on the show, “I would be happy just to be with the people here.”

King’s College prepares to present ‘As You Like It’