OGDEN — “Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon ‘em.” Shakespeare’s famous line from Twelfth Night can also be used to describe the greatness found at Weber State University’s production of Twelfth Night. While Shakespeare can be daunting and stereotypically hard to understand, the great acting and direction of the production, directed by Tracy Callahan, made it easy to follow along and become very relatable. This show is filled with great acting, great deception, and especially great comedy.
Show closes November 16th, 2024.
Shakespeare first put on the light-hearted Twelfth Night in the early 1600s during the Twelfth Night holiday on the Twelfth Day of Christmas. A story about two twins, Viola and Sebastian, who get separated during a shipwreck. Viola finds herself washed up on the shores of Illyria and decides to dress like her brother and work as a servant for Lord Orsino under the name “Cesario”. Viola quickly falls in love with Orsino yet is sent by him to woo Countess Olivia. However, Olivia falls in love with Cesario, who is actually Viola dressed as a man. This love triangle is told alongside the antics of Olivia’s household as they play a joke on the servant Malvolio making him believe Olivia is in love with him. While this play was written over 400 years ago, the topics of gender and love are very relevant in today’s society.
Julia Green plays the lead role of Viola with Devon Pilny playing twin brother Sebastian, who looks slightly similar to Green. Green is confident with good diction, flow, and verse when reciting Viola’s monologue where she realizes Olivia gave her a ring expressing love because she mistakenly believes Viola truly is a man. Green’s exasperated sighs and dismissive grunts are comical as she quickly leaves Olivia’s house after delivering a message from her master.
Countess Olivia played by Chloe Painter is giddy and lovesick for Cesario and gets after herself for saying stupid things like asking what Cesario’s parentage was during her monologue. Painter’s demanding and spoiled performance of the character portrays the role of the rich countess well along with her squeals of joy and delight when things look to go Olivia’s way. Jacob Coates is worldly and suave as Orsino. Coates thoughtfully declares “If music be the food of love, play on.” Coates portrays Orsino’s internal conflict as he is attracted to Viola though he believes her to be a man. Coates’ loving and caring acting shows a depth to his character and attachment to Viola.
Carson McFarland played Olivia’s drunkard uncle, Sir Toby and quite realistically looked like a seasoned old actor. McFarland’s raucous, loud ways and playful banter created a repulsive and charming character. Sir Toby is fond of Maria, Olivia’s gentlewoman, played by Aspen Bakner. Bakner and McFarland are comical and play well off each other as in scenes when Maria tries to take Toby’s alcohol away from him only to have him find more stashed in the greenery around the set. Bakner was devious as she declared “I know my lady will strike him” as she set up Malvolio to displease Olivia.
The flamboyant and foolish Sir Andrew was played by Dixon Trumbo with dim-witted delight. Trumbo dressed in a flashy outfit with orange tights and gloves and a grey and blue doublet and jacket escalated his vain character. Trumbo was silly and idiotically responded to the jests made about Sir Andrew. His cowardly character was talked into going to fight against Cesario for the honor of Lady Olivia. After finding the courage to go fight, Trumbo leaves with an amusing war cry and a not-quite-intimidating stance.
Left to right: Taylor Garlick as Malvolio, Spencer Sanders as Feste. Photo Credit: David Daniels
One of the favorite characters of the night was the pompous Malvolio played by Taylor Garlick. Their clean black and grey striped suit with an Elizabethan Ruff Collar helped to portray their uptight and conceited demeanor. Garlick is haughty and presumptuous when they walk in smiling and wearing cross-gartered yellow stockings to impress Olivia, however, she hates the color yellow and finds cross-gartered stockings to be a terrible fashion. Malvolio quickly becomes another fool in the household as everyone laughs at their misunderstanding and misfortune.
Spencer Sanders played Feste, the fool and comic of the evening dressed in colorful patched clothes with thoughtful witty remarks and sprightly twinkles in his eyes. As Sanders played the Italian priest visiting Malvolio in prison, Sanders’ high Italian accent and hobbit-like hood helped to confuse Marvolio as he spun him around in the movable prison cell. Sanders’ playful smile and cheery voice added to the evening as he sang jaunty tunes that even made Sir Andrew cry. Costumes designed by Fan Zhang were fitting to the Shakespearean era and well designed. As previously noted, the costumes for Sir Andrew, Malvolio, and Feste were eye-catching and of high praise.
Choreography by Francesca Mintowt-Czyz started off the show with the cast dancing to merry Baroque-style music which then turned into a mix of modern club music. The dancing morphed into a Matrix-style dance as everything slowly turned from dancing into a ship created from the dancers that wrecked in the sea made of waving large blue drapes. The mix of modern music and merry festival music was an interesting choice by Carey Campbell but seemed to work well.
The scenery, by scenic designer Cully Long, was large with two pillars painted like cream marble and a set with four doors to look like an Italian-style house making for a very well-constructed set. However, with only one set, the locations of each scene got muddled as to whether or not it was taking place at Olivia’s house or Orsino’s court. The wooden table and benches stood out as being too modern and not fitting with the time period of the show. The garden scene with Sir Toby, Fabian, and Sir Andrew hiding in a bush only portrayed one large and movable shrub with holes for the actors to poke out of as they listened to Malvolio. Although the shrub itself was well designed for the scene and the acting was fantastic, the garden felt minimalistic and sparse. Lighting, designed by Jessica Greenberg, during the opening shipwreck scene, and the dark and filtered lighting during the prison scene stood out as some of the few remarkable lighting cues. These moments were dramatic and a contrast to the rest of the straight lighting for the show.
Overall Weber State’s production of Twelfth Night was an enjoyable evening that I would recommend you go see. There are some adult jokes and raucous topics, however, most of these would go over many kids’ heads. Whether you are an avid Shakespeare fan or have never seen Twelfth Night before, this show is filled with greatness and foolery for all to enjoy. As Feste says, “Foolery, sir, does walk about the orb like the sun, it shines everywhere.”
