Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night brings farce, fantasy

In the upcoming staging of Shakespeare’s comedy Twelfth Night, or What You Will, a countess falls in love with a man who may be a woman, a sister grieves for a brother who may not be dead, and a love triangle ensues, albeit one that involves a cross-dresser. This production by Theater Arts at Caltech premieres tomorrow night.

Nothing is what it seems in this play, including a plot that is driven forward by instances of mistaken identity, misrepresentation, and misdirected love. Although it begins with the tragedy of a shipwreck, it ends in true Shakespearean-comedy style in a love-filled denouement.

During the violent wreck, a young couple, fraternal twins Sebastian (Adam Burgasser) and Viola (Dana Sadava), are torn apart, the one not knowing the fate of the other. We follow Viola, who finds herself a stranger in the land called Illyria. Knowing that a woman traveling alone is subject to danger in myriad forms, she takes bold measures to ensure her safety in unexpected circumstance.

“Viola disguises herself as a man because she is without the protection of her brother,” says Gavin Claypool, the play’s stage manager. Attired in men’s garb, Viola is the spitting image of her lost brother. She adopts the name Cesario and offers her services as a page to the good Duke Orsino, the ruler of Illyria.

As the months pass, Viola falls in love with Orsino. However, having taken the identity of a man, she is unable to declare her love outright. Believing Cesario to be a man, Orsino sends Viola as his proxy to help woo Olivia (Lavanya Vasudevan), a countess who is mourning the recent loss of her father and brother. In this state, Olivia understandably has no interest in men, and handily deflects Orsino’s determined advances as well as those of Sir Andrew Aguecheek (Noah Robinson). This changes when her eyes fall on the beautiful Cesario.

What follows is a series of mishaps and misunderstandings that include the shenanigans that take place among the members of Olivia’s household staff: Maria (Lisa MacWilliams-Brooks), Sir Toby Belch (Doug Smith), Feste (Karen Kähler), and Malvolio (Steve Collins). The plot comes to a head when the lost twin Sebastian miraculously reappears.

Twelfth Night is assigned reading in Lit 114, a course on Shakespeare’s major plays, their language, structures, and themes. The staging of the play is a combined effort of Jenijoy La Belle, professor of literature, and Shirley Marneus, director of TACIT.

The play will be staged in Ramo Auditorium for three weeks beginning Friday, February 21. Tickets and show times are available by calling Caltech Public Events at (626) 395-4652, or online at http://www.events.caltech.edu. For more information about this play and other TACIT productions, visit the TACIT website at www.its.caltech.edu/~tacit/.
•