I have seen Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, or What You Will on Broadway and off many times. My most recent encounter was a college production at St. Mary’s in South Bend, Indiana. As an avid fan of Axis, I wanted to see what Director Randall Sharp developed for this ninety minute shortened version. Even the title is abbreviated to simply Twelfth Night.
Evocative yet starkly simple settings are a trademark of this theater company. When coupled with the creaking noises heard, I imagined a ship’s hull forever groaning amidst the turbulence all around. The play begins with two shipwrecked twins and their journeys, while purposefully comedic, are definitely on shaky ground.
All of the sights and sounds are additive to the mood. The entire cast is doused in dashing grays, mirroring the walls and floor. What can sometimes be a brightly hued celebration of gender misidentification coupled with the courtly intrigue of plotting and scheming is instead here only colorful on the tongue. With some excess libations of course!
The actors are all dialed into this swirling world which was originally designed as a Christmastime entertainment. This version contains nice underscoring (Paul Carbonara) and musical numbers. The elements are all there. Despite knowing the play fairly well, I found myself a little adrift at sea here. Knowing the material seems to be a prerequisite to following along.
I understand some of the goals of Marc Palmieri’s adaption were to keep the length to ninety minutes and to make the language more accessible. Much of the plotline is clear but everything moves so quickly that certain connections were fuzzy to me. That seemed more prevalent in the secondary and more comical subplots.
Britt Genelin’s Viola/Cesario duality was superb and her charismatic scenes with real or desired suitors anchored the production. When twin brother Sebastian (Eli Bridges) appears the resemblance was totally believable adding to the fun.
Jon McCormick’s Duke Orsino is in love with Olivia (Katy Frame) who in turn is in love with Cesario, a mustachioed Viola. Round and round we go for the eventual comic payoff and happy ending. Everyone in this cast was laser focused on their particular story as evidenced by wordless body language on the sidelines of the stage.
This Twelfth Night is perhaps best enjoyed by those who, at least, read a synopsis beforehand. The environment is coolly minimalistic to match the excised text. The overall impact, for me, was slightly off-kilter. The ship was listing and I couldn’t grab a guard rail to steady my senses as I witnessed the familiar cunning notions of this classic drag play.
Twelfth Night is running through October 26, 2024.