Twelfth Night Performance Review
So you’re thinking about seeing William Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night? Are you in to crazy love octagons, women who disguise themselves as men, and extremely confusing plot lines? If so, this is your play! If not, I highly suggest you see something else! With an intricate, sometimes boring plot line, it’s hard to give this play your full attention as a viewer.
Are you ready to have your mind turned upside down trying to figure out who loves who and who dislikes who and who is really actually a woman? Ready? So Orsino loves Olivia, Viola was lost at sea and somehow survived but her brother is missing, Olivia’s brother is dead so Viola wants to serve Olivia because she feels they share the missing brother relationship, but one problem, she’s a woman, so what does she do, clearly what any normal person would do, disguise herself as a male, obviously. Then we have Toby, some drunk character who we find out is Olivia’s uncle but he’s a greedy guy and wants this rich man, Andrew to marry his cousin so he can inherit the wealth. Still with me? Cesario, aka Viola has worked his (her) way up and is now one of Olivia’s favorites! Way to go Viola! Now that Cesario has gotten close with Olivia, Orsino makes his way to Cesario to convince him to help him out with Olivia, the only problem? Cesario, who’s really Viola, has a crush on Orsino. Then there’s Feste, Olivia’s clown who is dislike by Olivia’s maid and Olivia’s steward Malvolio, Malvolio is an arrogant man who loves himself. Here’s where it gets tricky, Cesario tells Olivia that Orsino is in love with her and Olivia goes on to say that although she appreciates Orsino, she’s not interested in him that way but she would like to see Cesario again, yikes. I told you it surpassed loved triangle and went straight to love octagon. Bare with me, we’re almost done. Viola’s brother, Sebastian, who vanished in the ship wreck, yeah, he’s not dead and he’s managed to find his way to Illyria, but, he believes that Viola is dead. A letter is written to embarrass Malvolio because basically he sucks and no one likes him. Confused? Yeah, I was too. It get’s weirder, don’t worry. Sebastian and Antonio, the guy who found Viola and disguised her as a boy and then later found Sebastian head off in search of work. Eventually, everything gets even more tangled when Sebastian gets mistaken for Cesario. Fights break out and Sebastian is brought to Olivia in place of Cesario but little does Olivia know that she’s not talking to Cesario and begins to court Sebastian. Sebastian and Olivia fall in love and run to get married and eventually fate lands Orsino and Viola together.
Here at High Point University, this production was put on. I can’t say it was my favorite play but it was alright. The plot itself is confusing as anything but the actors did well. Not great, but it was okay. Orsino was portrayed by David Mikulay, Viola aka Cesario was acted out by Maggie Jo Saylor, props to her for cutting her hair short! Andrew was performed by Turner Morehead and Toby by Justin Beard. Each actor brought their own touch to the performance but with the dull scenery and confusing plot, it was hard to stay focused and attentive to the play. Feste the clown was portrayed by Nick Ogle, the countess Olivia was performed by Courtney Feiman. Dan Moldovan acted as Malvolio and Jared Goldenberg as Antonio and Sebastian was performed by Chaz Duffy. I give credit to the cast because having to act out such a difficult play must have been excruciatingly hard. I also give them props for continuing after the intermission as well as they did know that half of the audience had left. They shouldn’t take it personally though, I just don’t think most people understand Shakespearean language enough to sit around for two hours to watch it. High Point University should have taken that into consideration when deciding what performance to put on. Let’s get back to that scenery though, or lack there of. There was some shell thing and a few curtains here and there and a table every once in a while. Everything was darkly colored or white, nothing fun or entertaining. And to the stage crew, I’m pretty sure you’re supposed to be quiet in the back, not having conversations or dropping things that thud very loudly throughout the performance.
So, still wanna go see Twelfth Night? I give credit to the cast for their performances and I respect their hard work but next time there’s a production, I think it’s safe to say that the audience will dwindle if it’s another boring Shakespeare play. With such an up and down plot and all the characters resembling each other it’s hard to follow, let alone want to follow. The performance was so so but I can’t give the cast enough credit for continuing on with dignity after half of their audience had left.
