Wednesday, April 11, 2018

Twelfth Night at PTC

You might think that after a day spent teaching A Midsummer Night's Dream to sophomores I wouldn't want to spend the evening attending yet another Shakespeare play.  If the play in question is PTC's production of the hilarious comedy Twelfth Night you would be wrong because that is exactly what I did last night and I loved it!  Sebastian (Zach Fifer) and his twin sister Viola (Grace Morrison) are shipwrecked in a terrible storm and each thinks that the other is dead.  Viola disguises herself as a man called Cesario and offers her services to the Duke Orsino (A.K. Murtadha) with whom she immediately falls in love.  Orsino is desperately in love with the Countess Olivia (Kelsey Rainwater), who is in mourning for her brother, and sends Cesario to make overtures on his behalf to her but she, in turn, falls in love with Cesario.  Meanwhile, Sebastian is wandering around and is, of course, mistaken for Cesario.  Chaos ensues!   There is a secondary story, which is the source of much amusement, involving Malvolio (David Andrew Macdonald), a priggish steward in Olivia's household.  He makes life difficult for the other members of Olivia's household, most notably Sir Toby Belch (Kenajuan Bentley), Sir Andrew Aguecheek (Conner Marx), and Olivia's gentlewoman Maria (Susanna Florence).  To get their revenge they have Maria mimic Olivia's handwriting and send a letter to Malvolio from Olivia professing her love for him, requesting that he wear yellow stockings with cross garters.  These scenes involve a lot of physical comedy and they are so funny!  I was laughing out loud along with everyone else in the audience.  I usually don't like it when the setting is changed in a Shakespeare play (I'm a purist) but I thought that having the action take place in New Orleans after a hurricane during Mardi Gras was incredibly effective and I loved the set design and costumes.  This allowed the character of Feste (Richard E. Waits) to become a sort of Greek chorus singing old spirituals (which Waits composed for this production).  Sometimes you have to suspend your disbelief a little bit with this play but Fifer and Morrison look so much alike that it is easy to see why they would be mistaken for each other.  All of the actors give spirited performances and I really enjoyed myself.  I highly recommend this show but the production closes on Saturday so get tickets (go here) quickly!

Note:  Last night's audience was a bit more appreciative of Shakespeare than my sophomores!

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