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MONMOUTH — The Theater at Monmouth’s 2018 Summer Repertory Season continues with William Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night,” which begins Thursday, July 5.
The show will continue throughout the season, including matinee and evening performances on both weekdays and weekends.
Orsino loves Olivia. Olivia loves Cesario. Cesario’s really a woman disguised as a man who’s fallen for her boss, Orsino. Love, and a little mischief, throws everyone for a loop in this comic jaunt of misdirected desire. Where music is the food of love, and nobody is quite what they seem, anything proves possible.
When siblings Viola and Sebastian are shipwrecked off the coastal region of Illyria, each believes the other to be dead. Viola disguises herself as a man to find employment but unintentionally catches the eye of Olivia, the beloved of her new employer, Duke Orsino. To make matters worse, Viola has fallen for the Duke. The situation gets complicated when Sebastian arrives on the scene and is quickly mistaken for his sister, the disguised Viola, and finds himself married to Olivia. Meanwhile, Sir Toby Belch and Sir Andrew Aguecheek are wreaking havoc among the servants with no less need for illusion, confusion, and concealment. In the end, most things work out and everyone at least gets their just desserts.
Director Kristin Clippard has set the production in Olivia’s garden and conservatory which exists loosely in the 1890s. It is the Victorian era in America, one of strict social etiquette, and muted celebration. She further explains, “The play examines revelry, grief, loyalty, gender roles, and raw emotion by celebrating mayhem. The story is relevant today because we can relate to the emptiness, the need to grieve, the fear of being alone and wanting to be loved, and the desire to revel without restriction.” Even though the play begins with a disaster, it is eventually overcome by through playful joy that exudes from disguises, tricks, and merry lovemaking.
Drawing upon the carnivalesque spirit Elizabethans associated with Twelfth Night (the Feast of the Epiphany in the Roman Catholic and Greek Orthodox Churches), the play presents a world where social norms are disregarded and desire seems to gain free reign.
TAM’s production wholeheartedly embraces the opening line, “If music be the food of love, play on.” Composer, Chris Houston, has provided new orchestrations for the songs of the play highlighting the sorrows and joys of the play’s journey. Twelfth Night continues to be relevant hundreds of years later because, as Clippard puts it, “The story is solace to a melancholy soul…it shows us that grief and joy can exist in the same space.”
“Twelfth Night” features Bill Van Horn as Sir Toby; James Hoban as Malvolio; Jake Loewenthal as Antonio/ Captain; Mark Cartier as Sir Andrew; Kedren Spencer as Olivia; Janis Stevens as Maria; KP Powell as Feste; Marshall Taylor Thurman as Orsino; Ryan Broussard as Sebastian; Katie Croyle as Viola; Alexandra Curren as Valentine/ Officer/ Priest; and Kevin Aoussou as Fabian/ Curio. Set design by Miranda Friel, costume design by Stephanie Peters, lighting design by Daniel Taylor, sound design by Rew Tippin, and fight direction by Leighton Samuels.
For calendar, reservations, ticket prices and information about discounts for educators and others, call the box office at 207-933-9999 or visit www.theateratmonmouth.org.
