Bell is playing the role of the melancholy Jaques, one of the exiled Duke's companions, who has the famous "All the world's a stage" speech – not inappropriate, given Bell's long career as an actor, director and producer.

Bell, who turns 75 this year, says he has been planning his exit from Bell Shakespeare for some time.

"I hope 25 years is a good innings – it seemed time to pass it on to somebody else."

Evans had previously directed for the company before returning as an associate four years ago, and last year became co-artistic director, making, Bell hopes, for a smooth and unsurprising transition.

This is Evans' first time directing As You Like It and he thinks it is an appropriate choice for the 25th anniversary – both as a comedy to balance the year's repertoire and because, like the forthcoming productions of The Tempest and Hamlet, "it celebrates the theatre in all its glory".

Evans says, "The play is one of Shakespeare's most light-hearted; full of love and youth and song".

It's also replete with familiar Shakespearean themes and devices: cross-dressing, family conflict, exile and romance, to name a few.

Duke Frederick (Alan Dukes) has usurped his older brother (also Dukes) and exiled him, but the older Duke's daughter Rosalind (played by Zahra Newman) remains in the court. Oliver (Dorje Swallow) has inherited the bulk of his father Sir Rowland's estate and denies his brother Orlando (Charlie Garber) the education, training and property befitting a gentleman.

Rosalind and Orlando fall in love but when Frederick banishes her for treason she disguises herself as a man, Ganymede, and flees to seek her father in the Forest of Arden. She is accompanied by her cousin and best friend Celia (Kelly Paterniti) – posing as Ganymede's sister, Aliena – and the jester Touchstone (Gareth Davies). There, they meet the shepherd Silvius (George Banders) who loves Phebe (Emily Eskell) – but she falls in love with "Ganymede".

Orlando also flees to the forest and meets "Ganymede" who instructs him, Silvius and Phebe on the nature of love.

Evans says, "Why not reveal herself to him? She's decided to play the game and the game just keeps going. She finds liberation in pretending to be someone else."

And by "becoming" a man, she has a freedom that she does not possess as a woman.

Zahra Newman – in her first role with Bell Shakespeare – says she's having a lot of fun playing Rosalind, who feels more contemporary than most of Shakespeare's female characters.

"She's really accessible in the way she speaks and relates to Orlando and plays with him."

And, she says, there's a possibility that she forgets she is supposed to be keeping up a pretence and falls in love with Orlando all over again in her male guise.

"It's confronting." She says, "I think the play is really about what sort of relationship we want to be in ... and how we view love".

When Rosalind first meets Orlando, she says, he has a florid view of love – "full of magic and poetry, all of that, without any of the real relationship and the hard parts of being in love" – and as Ganymede she tries to open his mind up to a more realistic perspective.

This isn't Newman's first time performing Shakespeare or even a gender-bending role. She was in a Melbourne Theatre Company production of Richard III as Catesby, a male role which the director changed to a female.

The main setting is a forest but not a realistic one. As Evans says, "It's an idyllic liminal space where people can find out who they are or grow into what they need to be; it's quite abstract."

The circumstances as much as the production or the play itself make this a notable occasion. Evans says, "It is quite special, I think, not only for John and the company but for the people who've been very supportive of the company for the last 25 years."

For his swansong as an actor with Bell Shakespeare, Bell has a character he calls "a little black cloud hanging over the action". Jaques is a commentator and social critic, someone on the sidelines of the action. Bell finds him amusing and says when the production came up, he offered himself to Evans for the role.

"I said, if you're looking for a grumpy old man, I'll be available."

He had played Jaques before, but only for one night, flying in on request when the actor in a previous production came down with food poisoning .

"That was hair-raising, to go on with such short notice."

He's glad to be able to revisit the role under more opportune circumstances.

Later in the year, Bell will direct The Tempest for Bell Shakespeare, a production that will only be seen in Sydney, then will leave the company. He says a "clean break" is best for all concerned, though he will continue to attend the company's productions.

"I'll remain a benign presence in the background, but not in the foreground, for sure."

Looking back over the past 25 years of Bell Shakespeare, Bell nominates his favourite roles as Richard III and Falstaff in Henry IV as well as Hamlet from his younger days – all parts, he says, which are fun and in which the actor can build a great relationship with audiences.

As a director, he cites Henry IV ("a wonderfully rich and wonderful play") and Much Ado About Nothing ("I love that play very much, it's beautiful") as his favourites.

While Bell Shakespeare has produced works by other playwrights including Moliere, Jonson and Goldoni, its main focus is obvious. The company has presented all but seven of Shakespeare's plays. Works like Cymbeline and King John are simply not well enough known to the general public, Bell says, and people always like to see their favourites. Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet and Macbeth are always successful, every time they're produced. But the company has made an effort to balance crowd-pleasers with riskier fare and he hopes that will continue.

Bell is proud of the way the company offers a distinctively Australian flavour to presenting Shakespeare. In addition to the success of its mainstage productions, he's also very proud of its educational wing, which brings performances and workshops to tens of thousands of students each year as well as juvenile justice centres and indigenous communities.

Asked what he will do after Bell Shakespeare, Bell says, "Not too much" – but it seems his definition of that might differ from that of others'. He's already lined up to direct a new production for Opera Australia in May, then a revival of his production of Tosca, and later in the year will act in Anton Chekhov's play Ivanov for Belvoir Street Theatre. He hopes to maintain a schedule of acting and directing while also spending time with family and enjoying himself. It's a safe bet we haven't seen the last of John Bell.

"The sunset is still a way off yet."

Bell Shakespeare's As You Like It is on at the Playhouse, Canberra Theatre Centre, from April 7 to 18. John Bell will be part of a panel discussion at Parliament House on March 29 at 2pm. Bookings: canberratheatrecentre.com.au or 6275 2700.

Correction: In an earlier version of this story Zarah Newman was referred to as Zarah Roberts.