Twelfth Night: From Shakespearean Tale to Mod-Sixties Production
The Galloway Theatre Company showcased the play Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare on October 12th & 13th. After three long months of daily three-hour rehearsals, with some all day rehearsals on Saturdays, the talented thespians of the Galloway student body put on a spectacular rendition of the Shakespearean romantic comedy.
The play focuses on the love triangle between Viola, Duke Orsino, and Olivia, portrayed by Miriam Schatz, Alec Guthrie, and Ellie Kauffman, respectively. In the story, Viola disguises herself as a man named Cesario. Dressed as Cesario, she tries to help Duke Orsino get together with Olivia by talking him up to Olivia. All the time Cesario and Olivia spend together causes Olivia to fall in love with Cesario rather than the Duke. Meanwhile, Viola falls in love with the Duke, but still remains trapped within the confines of her disguise.
As the play progresses, hidden secrets come to light, making it a performance full of twists and turns. Even people who don’t follow Shakespeare, or even really understand it (me!), were able to comprehend the plot and laugh at the jokes through the perplexing verbiage of Shakespeare talk.
In addition to the main Shakespearean theatrics, the Galloway Theatre Company incorporated pop culture themes that contrast with traditional Shakespearean dialogue. This allows the production to appeal to all audiences, instead of confining it solely to viewers who enjoy Shakespeare. They conveyed these themes through the costume designs and the group of troubadours that sang in the play.
Ariel Jacobson is the costume designer for the Galloway Theatre Company. Ariel was inspired by the fashion of present day pop culture and wanted to combine these styles with Shakespearean style clothing to create the perfect costumes for this play. The resulting costumes were colorful while also remaining in tune with the Elizabethan era.
Ariel also wanted to make sure that each character was unique and that they didn’t all blend together. To achieve this, she decided to give each actor a specially designed hat that was specific to their character. She did this so that characters that didn’t necessarily have main parts in the story could still stand out and be remembered.
These unique hats and costumes accomplished just that for the troubadour group. The troubadours, played by Andrew Aman, Sydney Elleman, Emma Hilleary, Tillman Minter, Sammy Rosner, Rachel Schiffer, Cole Smith, and Isak Wall, were the favorite part of the play for many audience members.
The roles of the troubadours in the play was to sing during transitional scenes, in which the set and story perspective changed, and to sing songs as a reaction to some of the events taking place. The songs they sang were present day pop songs, including Camila Cabello’s “Havana”, Britney Spears’s “Oops I Did it Again”, Katy Perry’s “Hot and Cold”, Kesha’s “Raise Your Glass” and “Blow, Lady Gaga’s “Paparazzi”, etc. These songs really helped show the contrast between pop culture and Shakespeare that the play was going for.
An essential part in the execution of the play was the main set piece, which was a roughly 1,200 lb, handmade turntable. The turntable was split into four pieces to make it more manageable to move and was carried on and off stage by the Galloway Tech Crew throughout the play. The turntable was completely functional and added dynamic elements to the production that would otherwise have not been there.
Overall, the amount of effort put forth for this production is incredible. I was at the dress rehearsal and was able to witness the careful planning that went into just the clapping for the curtain call. Every aspect of the play, including the costumes, the set, and the representation of the contrasting themes, was carefully thought out and executed marvelously. The Galloway Theatre Company did a wonderful job, and Twelfth Night was definitely a night to remember.
By Jane Brown