As You Like It was a play by the Human playwright William Shakespeare that included the popular line: "All the World's a stage and all the men and women merely players, they have their exits and entrances and one man in his life plays many parts, his act being seven stages…" which appeared on the dedication plaque of the USS Prometheus. (VOY: "Message in a Bottle" set artwork)
The same quote also lends itself to the title of the Star Trek: Prodigy episode "All the World's a Stage".
In 2364, Q paraphrased a quote from the play, saying that "All the galaxy's a stage", but was corrected by Picard. (TNG: "Hide And Q")
In 2365, and 2366, several pages of this play from The Annotated Shakespeare were on display in Captain Jean-Luc Picard's ready room on the USS Enterprise-D. (TNG: "The Schizoid Man", "Evolution", "Ménage à Troi", "The Best of Both Worlds")
The identification of these pages was made by Jörg Hillebrand and Bernd Schneider for Ex Astris Scientia. [1] Pages from this play were also seen in "Loud As A Whisper", "The Measure Of A Man", "Contagion", "Time Squared", "Pen Pals", "The Ensigns of Command", "Unification I", "Conundrum", and "Violations".
Together with several other works by William Shakespeare and his edition of The Globe Illustrated Shakespeare: The Complete Works, retired admiral Jean-Luc Picard kept a copy of the play in his section of the quantum archive at the Starfleet Archive Museum. (PIC: "Remembrance")
The titles of the books seen in Picard's quantum archive were not legible in the episode, the bundle of books was seen up close in TRR: "Remembrance", however.
Selected works of William Shakespeare |
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All's Well That Ends Well • As You Like It • Hamlet • Henry IV, Part I • Henry IV, Part II • Henry V • Henry VI, Part I • Henry VI, Part II • Henry VI, Part III • Henry VIII • Julius Caesar • King John • King Lear • Love's Labour's Lost • Macbeth • Measure for Measure • The Merchant of Venice • A Midsummer Night's Dream • Much Ado About Nothing • Othello • Richard II • Richard III • Romeo and Juliet • The Tempest • Timon of Athens • Twelfth Night, or What You Will • sonnets |