Reviews: Twelfth Night presented by Alexandria City High School
Written by Mikenna Corcoran of James Madison High School
A ship’s bow shatters to smithereens against the unforgiving tide. The sailors? Scattered. A pair of siblings? Separated. However, in Alexandria City High School’s production of Twelfth Night, this tragic shipwreck quickly dissolves into shenanigans. During the chaos, Viola is split up from her twin brother Sebastian. Believing him to have drowned, she disguises herself as a man named Cesario and begins working for Duke Orsino. Orsino is in love with Olivia and decides to use Cesario as a means to declare his affections. Instead, Olivia falls in love with Cesario, while Viola falls in love with Orsino. Sebastian, meanwhile, unintentionally makes his way back to his sister, whom he also believes to be dead.
The renowned playwright William Shakespeare wrote Twelfth Night (subtitled “What You Will”) around 1601 or 1602. It is named for the twelfth night after Christmas, which marks the end of the holiday season. Theatre companies and movie studios alike continue to make fresh choices with the source material. “She’s the Man,” anyone?
At ACHS, Georgia Anderson played Viola with a methodical exactness. No matter if she was presenting as a man or a woman, she brought a refreshing sense of composure and intelligence to her role. Olivia’s steward Malvolio (Christos Pethokoukis) dominated in a bolder manner by strutting across the stage in cross-gartered yellow stockings. Their facial expressions were on-point dramatic, but not overly so, and his physicality was never not engaging.
Interestingly, this interpretation of Twelfth Night incorporated a multitude of elements from the 1990s. The Clown (Kit Vontz) sang numerous hits from the era with lyrics that were rewritten in Shakespearean English, while Sir Toby (Lucy Hunnicutt) and Sir Andrew (Tess Clarke) danced their socks off. The Cabbage Patch, the Sprinkler, and the Macarena all made an appearance, helping to blend the two time periods. Furthermore, though Sebastian (Jacob Perlman) had limited stage time, he mirrored Viola’s mannerisms exactly and ensured the delivery of his lines had the same deliberate quality. This made their relationship as siblings all the more realistic: they were apart for the majority of the play, yet it was clear from their inflections that they had grown up together.
The impressive set constructed by Alexis Morrison exemplified the Mediterranean setting of Illyria. Ivy crept over the exterior of Olivia’s abode, and the pink flowers blooming amidst the vines added to the delicate nature of her garden. Her servants continually made use of a functional spiral staircase that wrapped hypnotically around the house. Additionally, the 90s time period was made apparent through the work of the costumes team (Rauidhri Schiefelbein and Alexis Morrison). Converse sneakers, cuffed jeans, and flannel abounded among the members of the households, updating Shakespeare’s work by nearly 400 years.
Twelfth Night was at once silly and sincere, illustrating that though identity can influence how someone experiences love, it does not define it completely. “Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them,” wrote Shakespeare, and the cast and crew did their part to thrust greatness upon the audience.
Written by Greta Brown of H-B Woodlawn Secondary Program
Step into a world of mistaken identities and tangled romances with Alexandria City High School’s production of Twelfth Night, where laughter and love unfold in the whimsical land of Illyria.
The story begins with Duke Orsino, mourning that the Countess Olivia has not reciprocated his advances. On a nearby shore, Viola arrives with a group of sailors after a shipwreck, lamenting that she seems to have lost her twin brother Sebastian in the storm. She decides to dress as a man and take the name Cesario in order to get work as a page for Duke Orsino. What follows is a delightful comedic mix-up of identities and lovers, entangling Viola, Olivia, Orsino, and even Sebastian. In this classic Shakespearean comedy the characters must find love but not until they find out who they truly are beneath all the disguises and misunderstandings.
Viola, played by Georgia Anderson, led the audience through the intricate plot with ease and grace. By clearly distinguishing between the physicality and mannerisms of Viola and Cesario, Anderson captured the tension and vulnerability of a character caught between her true identity and her assumed role. Another dynamic presence on the stage was Sebastian’s friend Antonio, played by Alan Van der Sluis. Van der Sluis flawlessly communicated Antonio’s distress after being arrested by Orsino’s officers and shunned by the person he believed to be Sebastian, elevating the stakes in a particularly dramatic scene and contributing to Viola’s distress at being continually mistaken for someone else.
Rounding out the cast further was a group of pranksters: Sir Toby Belch, played by Lucy Hunnicutt, Sir Andrew Aguecheek, played by Tess Clarke, and a Clown, played by Kit Vontz. Hunnicutt, Clarke, and Vontz provided the comedic relief necessary to balance out the main plot, forming a trio of foolish rabble-rousers determined to play a trick on Malvolio (Olivia’s steward, played to snarky perfection by Christos Pethokoukis). The choas that ensued followed Malvolio through a dance routine and into a dungeon, where Vontz and Pethokouki’s hilarious back-and-forth about Malvolio’s imprisonment cemented the pranksters as a highlight of the show.
The action-packed story took place on two towering sets, alternating between Duke Orsino’s and Countess Olivia’s houses. Thanks to the vision of set designer Alexis Morrison, the picturesque pastels covered in trailing vines invoked the Mediterranean and perfectly established the romantic tone of the story. Complimenting the vibrant set was the work of Hattie Lawver on sound design, who included crashing waves in the background of a post-shipwreck scene and several parodies of 90s rock songs using Shakespearean lyrics. The sound added an atmospheric richness, heightening the story and providing comedic relief through song in moments of tension. The carefully-chosen and constructed props, courtesy of Hannah Burkhardt and Tessmer Belmont, were another highlight; especially the letters, which the props team aged by immersing pieces of cardstock in coffee.
Brimming with charm and comedy, Alexandria City High School’s Twelfth Night reminds us that love isn’t always what it seems, but it’s always worth the journey.