Since this past summer, the cast and crew of Taylor Theatre’s production of ‘Twelfth Night’ have been working tirelessly to bring one of Shakespeare’s most beloved comedies to life onstage.
Directed by Tracy Manning, assistant professor of theatre arts, ‘Twelfth Night’ ran Sept. 24-27 in Mitchell Theater.
‘Twelfth Night’ is a romantic comedy about twins, Viola and Sebastian, separated in a shipwreck, each believing the other died at sea. Viola dresses as a man to get a job as a page for Duke Orsino, who tasks her with wooing the Countess Olivia, the object of his affections. Meanwhile, a subplot with three mischievous side characters playing a long-drawn-out prank on Olivia’s servant Malvolio intersects with the main story through duels, mistaken identities, and marriages.
According to Heidi Gibson, a junior environmental science major and the stage manager, except for cutting some of Shakespeare’s material for time’s sake, the play remains almost exactly the same script-wise.
However, Gibson also shared that Taylor Theatre put a fun twist on the story: it’s pirate themed.
“It’s easy enough to take a classic Shakespeare play and be like, ‘We’re doing this Shakespeare play, but in a different time period or in a different setting,’” Gibson said, “but I think the pirate world really works because this is a play so rooted in ... identity and status, and those are things that are really elevated by the setting.”
In keeping with this theme, Caroline Stone, a junior theatre arts major and cast member, said that Manning incorporated even more music into the show than there is in Shakespeare’s original script –– specifically, sea shanty-type tunes.
There is a band of five actors that come onstage during the prologue and other scenes throughout to play the songs, she said.
“Tracy actually recruited Ethan Watts, who I think graduated last year, to write music and put them to sea shanties,” Stone said. “Music is really a part of the world and moves it as well.”
Gideon Love, a sophomore musical theatre major and actor of Antonio, compared his version of Antonio to the infamous Captain Jack Sparrow, matching his jaunty, flamboyant personality.
This season, Taylor Theatre has a theme for their show selections: “What We Do With Our Longings.”
The influence of love and suffering is one of the major themes of ‘Twelfth Night,’ and because there is such a close relationship between love and longing, the play has some interesting things to say about what people do with our longings.
“In ‘Twelfth Night,’ you see lots of different characters dealing with their longings in different ways,” Love said. “I think (an important takeaway is) not letting desires and longings define you.”
A main theme in the show is reconciliation, Gibson said. There are a plethora of ways to interpret that within the story, especially in relation to being seen.
Like most of Shakespeare’s writings, ‘Twelfth Night’ contains timeless ideas and observations about human nature. It is a story that resonates with people across cultures, backgrounds and history to the present day, and it makes them laugh.
“You don’t have to be an expert on Shakespearean literature to come and understand the story and have a good time,” Stone said. “I hope (people will) come away laughing and smiling. I think it’s a really funny show, and I think it’s very uplifting.”
