Central Washington University's Production of "Twelfth Night"

If Central Washington University intends to put on a show such as "Twelfth Night", it needs to be made sure that the true humor of the play is fully embraced and done in such a way that the show will appear to all of the students at the University and attract people to attend the performance. Adapting the show to modern time and making it a contemporary show would interest the younger people CWU is trying to attract to the theatre. There are two choices of where the show could be put on: 

First Choice: McConnell Stage

McConnell auditorium is the biggest venue in Ellensburg to put on any type of performance. It would allow for many advanced technical aspects such as a fly system and more lighting effects. It would also allow for the biggest audience.

Second Choice: The Tower Theatre

The Tower Theatre in the upstairs area of McConnell is a smaller black-box type of performance space. The benefits of such a theatre are the options of choosing how you would like the theatre set up seat-wise and being able to move where the audience would be and change the type of stage you'd be performing on. It would also allow for a more intimate setting.

"Beautiful, State of the Art Facility." Theatre Arts- Facilities. Web. 11 Mar 2011. <http://www.cwu.edu/~theatre/spaces/spaces.htm>.

Stage Make-Up for Twelfth Night

There are many ways to go about doing make-up for a show such as "Twelfth Night" because of how versatile all of the characters are. There is the character of Viola who, although she is a girl, is disguised as a boy the whole time and therefore would have make-up on that would accentuate certain features to make her look more masculine.

Viola

Malvolio could possibly require extensive make-up, because the character is so stern and stone-faced at almost all times. He is well kept and clean; perfect in his own eyes. However, he has the seen when Sir Toby, Sir Andrew, Feste and Maria lock him up as a joke, in which he would appear disheveled and unclean.

Mavolio

Malvolio

Also, there are characters like Sir Toby and Sir Andrew, who are old drunken men, sloppy and unkempt. Feste is also a character who would have a very interesting make-up job done on him depending on which direction you were planning on going with that character. Feste is a character that has so many possibilities within it.

(Left to Right) Sir Toby, Sir Andrew and Feste

These photos are all from the Shakespeare Theatre Company in Washington D.C.'s production of "Twelfth Night".


"Twelfth Night." Shakespeare Theatre Company. Web. 11 Mar 2011. <http://www.shakespearetheatre.org/plays/photos.aspx?id=146>.

The Globe Theatre

The Globe Theatre

The Globe Theatre was the venue where nearly all of William Shakespeare's plays were performed. At this time, going to the theatre was on the same level of entertainment as going to a Mariner's game in Seattle; it was an event that you planned your whole day around. People would stuff themselves into the theatre, much more than full capacity, in order to see a show. Sometimes people would even stay for more than one performance. The way that the Globe Theatre was constructed allowed for the productions to use large and loud props like "canons". It also allowed for impressive and visually stunning special effects. Music was used as well, which audiences loved.


"The Old Globe Theatre- The Productions." The Old Globe Theatre History. N.p., 2005. Web. 11 Mar 2011. <http://www.william-shakespeare.info/william-shakespeare-globe-theatre.htm>.

Acting Style

Acting style in Shakespeare plays are different than all other styles of acting. The words of the play are all so important to acting in a Shakespeare play that each piece of dialogue are almost characters themselves. You have to use Shakespeare's words to push yourself on to the next, you can't throw away a single word. Each word is meant to be felt and connected too. This can be said for any piece of theatre of course, but for Shakespeare it is especially important.

The above clip is a video clip of Judi Dench performing Viola's famous speech from "Twelfth Night" when Viola first realizes that Olivia has fallen in love with her under the false assumption that she is a man. Dench gives a performance that is the perfect example of feeling every word. You can see her channel every emotion as she moves through the piece, going from confusion to shock, shock to humor, humor to sadness, and back around again.


Acting teacher Marshall Gregory wrote an article for teachers about teaching the art of acting in a Shakespeare play. However, reading this article was great to read for actors as well as aspiring teachers. He discusses teaching a class for undergraduate students that focused on the art of acting and cold-reading the works of William Shakespeare and how this class made him realizes how important it is to not just "read" Shakespeare, but to connect.


“Why have I ceased getting better at reading Shakespeare out loud in class? Several years ago I had hit a plateau in the effectiveness of my oral classroom reading of Shakespeare, and, frankly, this annoyed me. I thought that taking a Shakespeare acting class might explain to me why, and it did. I learned very soon that there’s nothing wrong with the way I read Shakespeare, and that the next level of effectiveness is not a different or better kind of reading but something entirely different from reading. The next level is performance, and performance is not just a kind reading. I did not pack up my tent and leave the course, however, and the reasons I did not bring me to heart of my matter..."


Gregory, Marshall. "From Shakespeare on the Page to Shakespeare on the Stage: What I Learned about Teaching in Acting Class.." 6.2 Spring 2006. Pg. 310. EBSCOhost. Web. 11 Mar 2011. <http://web.ebscohost.com.ezp.lib.cwu.edu/ehost/detail?hid=110&sid=84f49e86-2fe5-4bfa-86f7-2e2a81d89c38%40sessionmgr114&vid=6&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=a9h&AN=20533384>.

Twelfth Night and William Shakespeare in the modern world

You may be asking yourself "why Shakespeare? How if this relevant today?" The truth is that, aside from the language barrier that most people encounter that are unfamiliar with Shakespeare's work, all of Shakespeare's plays have plots that somehow relate to life today.

Take for example, Twelfth Night's subject of sacrificing everything for the love of another person. This is especially relevant with the female population today. The way young girls and women are portrayed in books and movies today give off the impression that they are willing to do anything for love. When reading through Twelfth Night, it seems apparent that Viola could have left long before the end of the play when she reveals herself to be a boy. By staying, she is risking ruining her whole relationship with Orsino; risking losing his trust forever. But she chooses to risk it all and stay in hopes of becoming closer to Orsino and hoping that his feelings for Olivia fade.

Also, the general attraction that men have to women who are stunningly beautiful and rich even if they are shallow, cruel, or just genuinely not interested in them  at all. This is another theme that has been carried on in todays entertainment. Almost every romantic comedy you can see today is about one girl who is in love with one boy, but that one boy loves someone else, and that someone else has absolutely no interest in them. It's the classic "Love Triangle" that has always been in stories and always will be.

All of these photos posted in this entry are films made within the past 10 years that have adapted one of Shakespeare's plays into a modern day setting to make it relatable to today's population. 10 Things I Hate About You and Deliver Us From Eva were both based on Taming of the Shrew, O was based on Othello and, as previously stated, She's The Man was based on Twelfth Night.

These are all examples of how, even though the plays of William Shakespeare's plays have around for centuries, all of the plots and ideals of the shows still completely apply to life today. You just have to, when reading them, think about the deeper meanings and less about the language and the time period. At the end of the day Shakespeare exposes all his characters as all being imperfect humans, which is a running theme in all plays, musicals, films, music, books, etc. The monograph I've chosen in this case in entitled "Twelfth Night and the Renaissance of Man" by Toni Rudat. An interesting quote from Rudat comes as 

follows: 

"The audience of Twelfth Night is confronted with an unordered society that consists 

of characters that absolutely lack the renaissance ideals of how humans should be."

Rudat, Toni. Twelfth Night, and the Renaissance Idea of Man. Druck and Bindung: Books on Demand, 2010. pg. 1-2. eBook

Set Design and Effects

Shakespeare plays are traditionally all set in the same time period. Obviously, there is the more traditional approach, set in the Elizabethan era in the mid to late 16th century. The architecture was quite lavish and detailed, and therefore so are the set pieces. Below is an example if a modern day take on the show.

Here, is an interview that I found with set designer Gage Williams, who designed the set for "Twelfth Night" at the Great Lakes Theatre Festival. He talks about what inspired his scenic design for the show.


http://gltfcleveland.bandcamp.com/track/gage-williams-set-designer-twelfth-night


I personally was able to see a production of "Twelfth Night" at the Seattle Reparatory Theatre in 2007. The production had some very visually stunning aspects to it. The show had begun with the storm and ship wreck seen and they chose to put the whole stage under the "water" by putting a see-through scrim down and putting the actors on a fly system. That way, Viola and Sebastian could sink down from the ceiling to the bottom of the stage as well as swim up from bottom to the top. Meanwhile, the lighting effects were projecting a watery and bubbly effect on the scrim. When Viola and Sebastian were separated, the were under water and then ripped apart, thrown to opposite sides of the stage and gone. Also, much of the production took place outside, which in most Shakespeare's work, makes a lot of sense. Shakespeare's plays give a lot of room for outdoor scenery. Below is a photo from the show; the scene where Olivia first falls in love with Cesario, not knowing that she is really a girl.

MvB, . "Review: Twelfth Night @ the Rep." SeattleSt25 Sep 2007: 1. Web. 10 Mar 2011. <http://seattlest.com/2007/09/25/review_twelfe_t.php>.


Williams, Gage. The Great Lakes Theatre Festival, 19 Sep 2009. Intervew. Web. 11 Mar 2011. <http://gltfcleveland.bandcamp.com/track/gage-williams-set-designer-twelfth-night>.

Costumes

This is an example of the type of costuming that would have been used in the time period of 16th Century Europe. Here in this photo is a nobleman and a wealthy upper class woman walking arm in arm. As you can see, the clothes were very luxurious and detailed.

The clothes of the servants and maids would be much different. These characters are considered lower class and therefore would be in costumes that were less luxurious and more geared towards doing manual labor. The photo below is a picture of the fashion of doctors and servants during this time period. 

Below is a picture from a production of "Twelfth Night" from The Seattle Shakespeare Compnay in 2009, directed by Stephanie Shine. The two characters photographed below are the fool Feste on the left and the "guitar-wielding" gentlemen Curio on the right. This production was not your typical production of 'Twelfth Night', "setting the piece in Dickens’s London, with Victorian costumes."

"Twelfth Night, Seattle Shakespeare Company, 2009."Bardometer: This blog proclaims a clutch of critic's keen Reviews of Shakespeare play’d on stage and screen. 06 Dec 2009. Web. 10 Mar 2011. <http://www.bardometer.com/>