Twelfth Night
Last Update 05-Mar-2008
by - William Shakespeare
From 7th to 14th October 2006
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Presented by - The Nonentities (A)Location - Main HouseStandard Ticket PricesCurtain Up 7.30pm(Saturday 7th October A GALA CELEBRATION PERFORMANCE BY INVITATION ONLY) |
Our 25th Season at The Rose, opens with a revival of the play that was our first production here in 1981. Twelfth Night is surely the greatest of all Shakespeare’s pure comedies, featuring some of his most memorable characters and sparkling dialogue. A tale of mistaken identities and infatuations, Twelfth Night follows Viola, and her twin brother Sebastian, separated after their shipwreck on the coast of Illyria with each believing the other is drowned. Viola disguises herself as a male page named Cesario and enters the service of the Duke Orsino and is sent to woo the reclusive Lady Olivia on his behalf. confusion and capers ensue! A
special production with stunning scenery , costumes and of course superb performances. |
The action takes place on an Illyrian beach, at Orsino’s Court, in Olivia’s garden and to and fro between them all. The time is set somewhere around the early 17th century, shortly after Shakespeare wrote this - his most enduring comedy. |
The Director writes:-
‘Where is Illyria, if not in the imagination ?’ Geographically it is somewhere on the Adriatic coast of Italy, hence a nod in this production towards the zany, impromptu humour of the commedia dell’arte. After all Feste says ‘foolery does walk about the orb like the sun, it shines everywhere’. But what about the story? Suffice perhaps to say that Shakespeare’s oft repeated themes of shipwrecks, disguise, thwarted love, mistaken identity, ribaldry, carousing, drunkenness and punctured pomposity, are all present in ‘Twelfth Night’. Perhaps Orsino’s self love, Aguecheek’s mock bravado, Malvolio’s preening egotism and Viola’s gender confusion are still the themes of today …..but lets not get too serious, for ‘Twelfth Night’ was written to celebrate maybe Christmas or Carnival or as for us the Jubilee of a live Theatre !
‘So full of shapes is fancy, that it alone is high fantastical’
The Director extends special thanks to :-
Jon Styler and David Collier, who have re-arranged or composed the music especially for this production, Jen Eglinton who has designed the set and made the costumes and Kidderminster college for their continued co- operation.